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HOW  TO  WRITE  ENGLISH: 


A   PRACTICAL  TREATISE   OX 


ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 


BY 

A.  ARTHUR  READE, 

EDITOR  OF  "STUDY  AND  STIMULANTS.' 


THIRD    EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.   B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO. 


PREFACE. 


HAVING  for  some  years  taken  considerable  interest  in  the 
study  of  English  Composition,  and  being  convinced  both 
of  ils  importance,  and  of  the  difficulties  which  attend  its 
pursuit  by  stuJents,  I  have,  in  the  following  pages,  aimed 
at  making  the  subject  more  attractive  to  the  young.  By 
giving  illustrations  of  the  toils  of  authorship,  I  hope  to 
stimulate  the  beginner  to  excellence.  My  aim  throughout 
has  been  to  steer  a  middle  course  between  the  dry  and 
uninviting  grammar  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  more  bulky, 
exhaustive  treatise  on  the  other. 

While  not  put  forth  as  professing  to  be  a  complete 
text-book,  this  treatise  has  been  chiefly  designed  to  meet 
the  wants  of  elder  scholars  and  pupil-teachers,  whose 
defects  in  Composition  have  been  so  often  exposed  by  Her 
Majesty's  Inspectors.  I  anticipate  that  the  rules  given 
will  help  students  to  write  with  clearness,  correctness,  and 
energy. 

From  the  numerous  requests  which  have  reached  me 
from  young  men  for  hints  in  debating,  I  venture  to  believe 
that  the  chapter  on  Controversy,  and  the  list  of  questions 
for  discussion,  are  likely  to  meet  the  wants  of  many 
young  debaters. 

1C9C840 


SUMMARY  OF  THE  CONTENTS. 


futa, 

I.  INTRODUCTION.— Importance  of  English  Composition.   Its  study 

ignored  in  schools.  Complaints  of  Her  Majesty's  Inspectors 
as  to  faulty  Composition.  Composition  as  an  instrument  of 
Culture 11 

II.  ON  THE  LAWS  OP  WRITING. — The  first  requisite  of  an  author. 

How  to  lay  in  stores.  Value  of  a  Common-place  Book  and  an 
Index  Rerum.  Macaulay's  accuracy  and  laborious  research. 
The  toils  of  Authorship.  When  authors  do  their  thinking  ...  14 

III.  THE   WRITER'S   VOCABULARY. — How    to    obtain    a    copious 
vocabulary.     Translations.      Poetical   exercises.     Reporting. 
Phonography  an  aid  to  Composition 18 

IV.  ON    TAKING    PAINS. — How    to    excel.      An    art.      Genius. 
Necessity  of   labour.      The   toils  of   Authorship   continued. 
"  A  good  poet  made,  as  well  as  born."     Goldsmith  and  Burns 
quoted.     Balzac's  method  of  Composition.     Macaulay's  punc- 
tilious attention  to  details.  Bancroft,  the  American  historian's 
method  of  working 20 

V.  ON  THE  FORMATION  OP  STYLE. — Meaning  of  style.     Study  of 

models  of  style.  Buckle's  efforts  in  studying  style.  Johnson's 
dictionary  read  for  the  purpose.  How  the  Rev.  Thos.  Binney 
acquired  a  good  style.  Sir  James  Macintosh's  division  of 
style.  What  authors  to  study  for  style.  Carlyle's  style  and 
influence.  Macaulay's  style  27 

VI.  ON  THE  STUDY  OF  MODELS. — Thackeray  unsurpassed  in  pre- 
cision   of    language.       How    to    attain    an    English    style. 
Addison's  and  Johnson's  contrasted.     The  first  rule  of  all 
writing.      Roger  Ascham's   precept.      Bunyan   commended. 
Raskin,  the  great  English  classic.     Professor  Blackie's  warn- 
ing not  to  be  over  anxious  about  style.     A  clear  style  a  great 
acquisition.     The  coveted  place  in  the  temple  of  fame  won 

by  style 32 


8  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

I'Aom, 

fll.  ENGLISH  OR  LATIN. — Illustrations  of  the  uses  of  Latin  and 
Anglo-Saxon  words.  The  Rev.  Robert  Hall  quoted.  Cobbett 
one  of  the  best  writers  having  a  Saxon  basis 37 

VIII.  ON   SIMPLICITY  IN   STYLE. — Clearness  first   in  importance: 
Simplicity,    brevity,    and    precision   implied    in   perspicuity.   • 
Special    in   preference   to   general   terms   advocated.      Fine 
phrases  condemned.     The  Daily  Telegraph's  English.     Dean 
Alford's  warning  against  newspapers.     Simplicity  violated  by 
vague  language.     Swinburne  and  Spencer  quoted.     Impor- 
tance of  using  plain  English 40 

IX.  ON  BREVITY  IN  STYLE — Brevity,  a  leading  quality  of  style — 
needless   words   to  be  avoided.     Grammatical   errors  in  the 
Bible.     Brevity  violated    by  circumlocution.     The  value   of 
Condensation.     Civil  Service  competitors  unable  to  make  an 
abstract.     Precis   writing   essential  in  commercial   pursuits. 
Invaluable   as  a  mental  exercise.     Dr.  Johnson's  verbosity. 
The  disgusted  London  Alderman.     Circumlocution   permis- 
sible in  some  cases  45 

X.  ON  PURITY  IN  STYLE.— Pwn'ty  of  language  regulated  by  the 

laws  of  taste.  Vulgar  and  slang  expressions  to  be  avoided. 
Also  the  general  use  of  technical  words,  aud  the  use  of 
foreign  words.  Dr.  E.  A.  Freeman's  confession.  Coining 
words.  The  Americans.  When  words  may  be  coined. 
Inconsistent  words  and  quaintness  of  expression  to  be  avoided.  49 

XI.  ON  ENURGY  OF  STYLE. — Implies  the  power  of  placing  words 
so   as   to   produce,   not   only   clearness,  but  impressiveuess. 
Aided   by   inversion,   antithesis,    exclamation,    interrogation, 
ellipses,  simile,  metcphor,  allegory,  personification,  synedoche, 
metonymy 54 

XII.  PARTS  OF  SPEECH. — Illustrations  of  their  use.    Rules  violated 

by  our  best  authors 69 

XIII.  PUNCTUATION. — Ignorance  of  the  art.     Compositors  not  to 
be  relied   upon.     Importance  of    being  able  to   punctuate. 
Lord  Byron's  hate  of  punctuation.     Jeffrey's  love  of  the  art. 
How  to  avoid  ambiguit'-s  in  constructing   sentences.     Mis- 
takes arising  from  faulty   punctuation.     Illustrations  of  tue 
principal  marks  of  punctuation C>i 


SUMMAEY  OF  THE  CONTENTS.  9 

PACE 

KIV.  ON  PARAPHRASE. — Meaning  of  a  paraphrase.  Its  impor- 
tance. Paraphrasing  not  understood  by  children,  or  by  pupil- 
teachers.  Ludicrous  instance  of  paraphrasing.  Rules  for 
paraphrasing.  Illustrations  and  exercises  72 

XV.  HINTS  FOB  ESSAYISTS. — A  plan  to  be  drawn.     Macaulay's 
method.     Choice  of  subject     Biographical  subjects  easiest 
to  write  about.     Value  of  Biography.     What  a  biographical 
essay  should  contain.     History.    Subjects  for  Essays.     Social 
and  Political  Economy.     Subjects  for  essays 77 

XVI.  ON  CONTROVERSY. — Unfairness  in  controversy.     The  deba- 
ting class  a  great  school  for  learning  toleration  and  courtesy. 
The  Bishop  of  Manchester  on  '  wire '  pulling,  and  the  tricks, 
coarseness,  and  vulgarity  of  public  life.     How  the  evil  may 
be  remedied.      Professor  Vince  quoted.      The  laws  to  be 
observed  in  controverting 78 


APPENDIX 85 


ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 


I— INTRODUCTION. 

WHILST  not  underrating  the  value  of  other  branches  of 
education,  we  think  English  Composition  ought  to  take 
a  high  place  in  the  list  of  subjects  taught  in  our  schools 
and  colleges.  To  be  able  to  write  one's  own  language 
correctly  and  elegantly,  is  surely  of  more  value  than  to  be 
able  to  write  or  speak  a  foreign  language.  The  late  Sir 
William  Fairbairn  declared  himself  unable  to  determine 
whether  he  wrote  or  spoke  correctly.  His  schoolmaster,  he 
said,  was  well  qualified  to  teach  English,  but  it  was  con- 
sidered not  only  non-essential,  but  as  standing  in  the  wav  of 
other  branches  of  education.  In.  some  schools  the  thorough 
study  of  English  is  even  yet  absolutely  neglected ;  in  others, 
grammar  is  taught  theoretically,  and  children  are  bewildered 
by  the  distinctions  between  distributive,  quantitative,  and 
qualitative  nouns.  Their  ignorance  of  the  rules  of  composi- 
tion, and  their  inability  "to  set  down  in  simple  grammatical 
sentences,  with  some  regard  to  sequence,  the  recollections  of 
observations  of  a  natural  object  frequently  seen,"  are 
attributable,  in  part,  to  the  too  mechanical  nature  of  the 
instruction  which  the  "Revised  Code"  fosters  and  necessitates. 
Scarcely  a  report  of  Her  Majesty's  Inspectors  appears  which 
does  not  contain  some  reference  to  faulty  composition. 


12  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

In  his  last  report  (1881),  the  Rev.  H.  G.  Aliugton  says  : 
"  The  worst  results  are  in  the  most  popular  subject — litera- 
ture; and  the  failures  are  almost  entirely  in  composition,  which 
appears  to  have  been  generally  neglected."  Mr.  Codd 
declares,  "The  composition  is,  for  the  most  part,  very 
unsatisfactory.  The  children  have  but  little  idea  of  punctua- 
tion, and  are  in  doubt  as  to  when  to  use  a  capital  letter. 
The  composition,  in  fact,  does  not  appear  to  have  sufficient 
attention  paid  to  it.  I  very  rarely  get  a  piece  of  paraphrase 
even  moderately  done.  In  many  cases  a  grotesque 
rearrangement  of  the  words  is  all  that  is  attempted."  Even 
from  Scotland  similar  complaints  are  made.  Dr.  Kerr  says: 
"  Composition  is  taught  with  very  various  success.  In  too 
many  cases  correct  structure,  punctuation,  and  the  use  of 
capitals,  do  not  receive  sufficient  attention."  Mr.  Munro 
admits  that  the  exercises  in  composition  of  pupil-teachers 
"  are  often  good,"  but  declares  that  they  are  "  seldom  with- 
out certain  defects.  These  are,  (1)  bad  arrangement;  (2) 
poverty  of  ideas  and  vocabulary ;  (3)  inelegant  phraseology 
and  provincialisms." 

A  knowledge  of  the  theory  of  grammar,  of  its  technicalities, 
is,  of  course,  valuable ;  but  experience  shows  that  tens  of 
thousands  of  people,  who  have  never  learned  the  science  of 
grammar  from  school  books,  speak  and  write  English  without 
violating  its  rules.*  They  have  read  the  best  writers,  heard 
the  best  speakers,  and  lived  in  the  society  of  the  educated. 
From  the  study  of  Shakspere  alone,  and  while  in  prison, 
Kossuth,  the  Hungarian  patriot,  derived  his  wonderful 

*  "  I  will  not  say  it  positively,  but  I  have  a  notion  that  if  all  the 
best  speakers  and  writers  that  we  have,  unless  they  happen  to  be  some- 
what young,  were  examined  in  English  Grammar  by  a  sharp  Board- 
Bchool  boy,  most  of  them  would  be  plucked." — Mr.  D.  Nasmith,  LL.D., 
in  Educational  Times,  March,  1881." 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

knowledge  of  English.  No  one  oould  be  supposed  less  likely 
to  become  an  author  than  John  Bunyan.  He  could  scarcely 
write  his  name,  and  had  never  studied  the  art  of  composition. 
Almost  the  only  books  he  had  read  were  the  Bible,  and  Foxb 
"Book  of  Martyrs."  Yet  he  wrote,  and  in  piison,  too,  a 
book  which  has  gone  through  more  editions  than  any  other 
with  the  exception  of  the  Bible — a  book  respecting  which 
Macaulay  declared  :  "  There  is  no  book  in  our  literature  on 
which  we  would  so  readily  stake  the  fame  of  the  unpolluted 
English  language."  This  wonderful  book  is  the  "  Pilgrim's 
Progress."  Still,  the  study  of  the  art  of  composition  must 
not  be  thought  needless  because  Bunyan  never  studied  it. 

Speaking  of  Keats's  style,  De  Quincey,  who  is  considered  a 
master  of  prose,  remarked  that  if  there  is  one  thing  which, 
next  to  the  flag  of  his  country  and  its  honour,  should  be  holy 
in  the  eyes  of  a  young  poet,  it  is  his  native  tongue.  "  Ho 
should  spend,"  added  De  Quincey,  "  the  third  part  of  his  lifo 
in  studying  the  language  and  cultivating  its  resources.  Ho 
should  be  willing  to  pluck  out  his  right  eye,  or  circumnavigate 
the  globe,  if  by  such  a  sacrifice,  and  such  an  exertion,  he 
could  attain  to  greater  purity,  precision,  compass,  or  idiomatic 
energy  of  diction."  "The  noblest  literary  study  of  an 
Englishman,"  remarks  an  American  professor,  "  is  the  study 
of  the  English  language.  The  noblest  literary  gain  of  the 
educated  man  is  the  power  of  wielding  that  language  well." 
"Since,"  said  Locke,  "it  is  English  that  an  English  gentle- 
man will  have  constant  use  of,  that  is  the  language  he  should 
chiefly  cultivate,  and  wherein  most  care  should  be  taken 
to  polish  and  perfect  his  style." 

As  an  instrument  of  culture,  composition  holds  a  high 
place,  for  we  cannot  gain  the  greatest  good  from  reading 
unless  we  practise  ourselves  in  composition.  To  digest  and 
arrange  our  ideas  we  must  write;  for  writing  makes  our 


14  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

conceptions  clearer,  and  adds  to  our  stock  of  ideas.  The 
mere  exercise  of  composition  is,  in  fact,  beneficial  to  the 
mind.  It  is  equally  beneficial  in  every  relationship  in  life. 
What  Channing  said  of  speaking  is  true  also  of  writing  :  "  A 
man  who  cannot  open  his  lips  without  breaking  a  rule  of 
grammar;  without  showing  in  his  dialect,  or  brogue,  or  uncouth 
tones,  his  want  of  cultivation ;  or  without  darkening  his 
meaning  by  a  confused,  unskilful  mode  of  communication, 
cannot  take  the  place  to  which  perhaps  his  native  good  sense 
entitles  him." 


II.— THE  LAWS  OF  WRITING. 

The  first  need  of  a  writer  is  to  have  something  to  say, 
some  thought  wh:ch  calls  for  expression,  some  information 
to  give,  some  knowledge  to  impart.  To  this  end  he  should 
read,  think,  and  observe.  He  should  follow  the  example  of 
the  best  writers,  and  theirs  only.  Thus  let  him  lay  in 
his  stores.  Pliny  read  nothing  without  making  extracts. 
Bentley,  who  died  in  1742,  whom  Macauliy  declares  to 
have  been  the  greatest  scholar  that  had  appeared  since 
the  revival  of  learning,  seeing  his  son  reading  a  novel,  asked, 
"  What  is  the  use  of  reading  a  book  you  cannot  quote  ? " 
Professor  Blackie  advises  students  to  interleave  some  books, 
and  make  indexes  to  others,  so  as  to  tabulate  their  knowledge 
for  apt  and  ready  reference.  A  common-place  book  and  an 
Index  Kerum  should  be  in  the  possession  of  every  student. 
In  the  former  he  should  enter  his  thoughts  as  they  arise. 
Thoughts  are  fleeting ;  unless  they  are  at  once  recorded  they 
leave  us,  seldom  to  return.  Before  Dr.  Johnson  commenced 
his  "  Rambler,"  he  had  collected  in  a  common-place  book  a 
variety  of  hints  for  essays  on  different  subjects.  Southey 
did  the  same  ;  and  it  may  truthfully  bs  said  that  scarcely 


THE  LAWS   OF  WRITING.  15 

any  writer  of  experience  fails  to  note  illustrations  and  argu- 
ments as  they  arise,  and  to  tabulate  them  for  ready  reference. 
When  Gibbon  wanted  information  on  any  particular  subject 
he  wrote  down  all  that  he  knew  about  it ;  then  he  consulted 
all  the  books  ia    his   library   which   were    iikely    to   yield 
material,   laying  them  open  before    him  on  his  table,  and 
making  the  reading  his  own.     This  is  the  method  of  many, 
and  it  is  one  which  every  essayist  would  do  well  to  adopt. 
Before  Macaulay  began  his  "History  of  England"  he  had  a 
large  store  of  accurate  historical  knowledge.      "  1  wish,"  said 
Lord  Melbourne,  "  that  I  could  be  as  certain  of  anything  as 
Macaulay  is  of  everything.'5     Yet  he  underwent  the  most 
laborious  researches  to  make  his  information  complete.     He 
ransacked  libraries,  piles  of  blue-books,  and  bundles  of  moth- 
eaten  newspapers  ;  pored  over  illegible  manuscripts,  stupid 
stories,  and  doggerel  versos.     Gibbon  spe'it  about  twenty- 
three   years    in   the    construction   of  his   "  History   of  the 
Decline  and  Fall  of  the  JRoman  Empire,"  from  the  time  he 
first  conceived   the   idea,   sitting  amidst   the  ruins   of  the 
"Eternal   City,"   while  the   barefooted  friars   were   singing 
vespers  in  the  Temple  of  Jupiter,  to  the  date  of  its  comple- 
tion in  the  retirement  of  the  little  Swiss  village  of  Lausanne. 
Motley  spent  ten  years  in  preparing  his  "  History  of  the 
Netherlands"  and  his  "  Dutch  Republic,"  and  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  thus  writes  respecting  that  great  historian :   "  His 
work,  when  not  in  his  own  library,  was  in  the  Archives  of 
the  Netherlands,  Brussels,  Paris,  and  English  State  Paper 
Office,  and   the   British  Museum,  where   he  made  his  own 
researches,    patiently    and    laboriously    consulting    original 
manuscripts  and  reading  masses  of  correspondence.     After 
Lis  material  had  been  thus  painfully  and  toilfully  amassed, 
the  writing  of  his  own  story  was  always  done  at  home,  and 
his   mind,   having   digested    the    necessary  matter,   always 


Ib  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

poured  itself  forth  in  writing  so  copiously  that  his  revision 
was  chiefly  devoted  to  reducing  the  over-abundance.  He 
never  shrank  from  any  of  the  drudgery  of  preparation." 

The  great  work  of  Saint  Beuve's  life,  the  history  of  Port 
Iloyal,  cost  him  thirty  years  of  labour ;  it  originated  in  .a 
course  of  lectures  at  Lausanne,  in  1837,  anl  the  final  and 
complete  edition  appeared  in  1867.  He  was  not  satisfied 
with  getting  to  the  bottom  of  his  subject — with  penetrating 
the  genius  and  nature  of  every  one  of  those  connected  with 
that  tragical  history ;  he  ended  by  knowing  them  as  we 
know  those  with  whom  we  are  in  daily  intercourse,  and  by 
exciting  in  his  readers  the  same  intensity  of  life  and  interest 
which  is  the  predominant  quality  of  his  work.  Balzac,  the 
great  French  novelist,  visited  the  places  he  wanted  to  describe. 
If  he  laid  the  scene  of  a  novel  in  any  little  country  town,  he 
\vent  thither,  and  returned,  so  laden  with  notes  and  sketches, 
that  the  inhabitants  believed  th:tt  one  of  their  number  had 
betrayed  them.  Of  Charles  Kingsley,  one  of  his  publishers 
writes:  "It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  staying  with  nim 
through  the  summer  in  which  the  greater  part  of  '  Hypatia ' 
was  written.  I  was  especially  struck,  not  only  with  his 
power  of  work,  but  with  the  extraordinary  pains  he  took  to 
be  accurate  in  detail.  We  spent  one  whole  day  in  searching 
the  four  folio  volumes  of  Synesius  for  a  fact  he  thought  was 
there." 

Possessing  a  most  retentive  memory  and  a  vivid  imagina- 
tion, Sir  Walter  Scott  trusted  to  neither,  when  he  could 
trace  out  the  facts  themselves  by  paying  a  visit  to  a, 
scone,  or  by  hunting  up  an  o'd  ballad  or  a  tradition. 
Refusing  to  give  ten  minutes  of  his  leisure  to  lay  down  the 
plot  of  a  novel,  we  are  told  that  he  never  hesitated  a 
moment  to  give  up  the  leisure  of  a  week  to  settle  a  point  of 
history,  or  to  gather  the  details  of  a  bit  of  scenery  which  he 


THE  LAWS   OF  WRITING.  17 

was  thinking  of  working  into  a  poem  or  a  novel.  When  not 
at  work  upon  one  of  his  novels,  he  was  frequently  found  by 
Lockhart  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  at  Edinburgh,  poring 
over  maps  and  gazetteers  with  care  and  anxiety  ;  and  his  own 
letters  to  Ballantyne,  attest  the  scrupulous  nicety  with 
which  he  hunted  up  his  facts. 

From  these  examples,  the  importance  of  the  common-place 
book  and  of  accurate  statement  is  clear. 

Before  sitting  down  to  write,  the  student  would  do  well  to 
compose  in  his  own  mind,  instead  of  composing  as  he  writes. 
Writing1  becomes  a  dreary  task  when  the  writer  has  to  wait 
for  thoughts.  Of  that  genial  essayist,  Charles  Lamb,  it  is 
said  that  he  never  sat  at  his  desk  to  think.  This  was  the 
work  of  his,  apparently,  purposeless  strolls  in  the  Strand, 
Fleet  Street,  or  the  Hertfordshire  meadows ;  for  walking  was 
the  only  recreation  he  allowed  himself.  To  an  enquiry  as  to 
when  Scott  did  his  thinking,  the  great  novelist  replied  :  "  Oh, 
I  lie  simmering  over  things  for  an  hour  or  so  before  I  get  up, 
and  there's  the  time  I  am  dressing  to  overhaul  my  half- 
sleeping,  half-waking  projel  de  chapitre,  and  when  I  put  paper  ' 
before  me,  it  is  commonly  run  off  pretty  easily." 

It  was  the  habit  of  Oharles  Kingsley  to  master  his  subject, 
whether  book  or  sermon,  before  putting  pen  to  paper.  His 
thinking  was  done  mostly  in  the  open  air,  in  his  garden — on 
the  moor,  or  by  tiie  side  of  a  lonely  trout  stream ;  and  his 
writing  was  done  by  his  wife  from  his  dictation,  while  ha 
paced  up  and  down  the  floor  of  his  study.  Of  Victor  Hugo 
it  is  said,  that  after  turning  an \  returning  a  drama,  a  romance, 
or  a  poem,  in  his  head,  sometimes  for  a  year,  he  would  sud- 
denly sot  to  work,  and  continue  working  until  he  had 
finished.  Each  of  his  dramas  was  written  within  a  fortnight, 
and  at  times,  he  would  produce  au  a.t  in  verse  in  a  single  day, 
but  an  act  which  he  had  been  revolvin  in  his  mind  ior  six 


18  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

mouths.  Bloomfield,  the  poet,  said  that  nearly  one  ha'.t  of 
the  "Farmer's  Boy"  was  composed,  revised,  and  corrected, 
without  writing  down  a  word  of  it,  and  while  working  at  his 
trade  of  shoernaking. 


III.— THE  WRITER'S  VOCABULARY. 

In  order  to  obtain  a  copious  vocabulary  and  facility  of 
expression,  translation  from  a  foreign  language  is  advised 
by  most  writers  ou  composition.  Dr.  Angus,  for  example, 
urges  the  student  first  to  read  a  foreign  work,  and  then  to 
re-write,  in  his  own  words,  its  favourite  passages.  Let  him 
fully  describe  objects,  scenes,  occurrences,  characters,  literally 
and  figuratively,  now  in  a  style  richly  florid,  and  now  iu  a 
style  severely  chaste,  till  he  has  acquired  the  habit  of  saying 
the  same  thing  in  a  dozen  different  ways — a  great  snare, 
he  adds,  but  also  a  great  gain.  Others  of  our  best 
writers  commend  translation  as  a  help  to  the  acquisition  of 
copiousness,  fluency,  and  mastery  of  words. 

Pliny  advised  translating  Greek  into  Latin,  or  Latin  into 
Greek.  By  this,  he  said,  you  acquire  propriety  and  dignity 
of  expression,  an  abundant  choice  of  the  beauties  of  style, 
power  in  description,  and,  in  the  imitation  of  the  best  models, 
a  facility  of  creating  such  models  for  yourself.  Besides,  that 
which  may  escape  you  when  you  read,  cannot  escape  you 
when  y^-u  translate.  Sir  Walter  Scott  advised  his  son  to 
exercise  himself  frequently  in  trying  to  make  translations 
of  the  passages  that  most  favourably  struck  him,  and  to 
invest  the  sense  of  Tacitus  in  a*  good  English  as  he  could. 
He  considered  that  he  would  thus  gain  a  command  of  his 
own  language,  which  would  be  quite  unattainable  by  any 
person  who  had  not  studied  English  composition  in  early  life. 

Southey.  declared  that  he  derived  considerable  advantage 


THE  WRITER'S  VOCABULARY.  19 

from  the  practice  of  sometimes  translating,  sometimes 
abridging,  the  historical  books  read  at  the  Westminster 
School.  Macaulay  considered  that  Pitt's  classical  studies 
had  the  effect  of  enriching  his  English  vocabulary,  and  of 
making  him  wonderfully  expert  in  the  art  of  constructing 
English  sentences.  We  are  told  that  Pitt's  practice  was  to  look 
over  a  page  or  two  pages  of  a  Greek  or  Latin  author,  to  make . 
himself  master  of  the  meaning,  and  then  to  read  the  passage 
straight  off  into  his  own  language.  Macaulay  thought  it 
was  not  strange  that  a  young  man  of  great  abilities, — who 
had  been  exercised  daily  in  this  way  during  ten  years,  should 
have  acquired  an  almost  imrivalled  power  of  putting  his 
thoughts,  without  premeditation,  into  words,  well  selected 
and  well  arranged.  Of  Robertson,  the  historian,  Lord 
Brougham  said  that  translations  from  the  classics,  and 
especially  from  the  Greek,  formed  a  considerable  part  of  his 
labours.  Robertson  believed  translating  to  be  well  calculat  d 
to  give  an  accurate  knowledge  of  our  own  language,  by 
obliging  us  to  weigh  the  shades  of  difference  between  words 
or  phrases,  and  to  find  the  expression,  whether  by  the 
selection  of  the  terms  or  the  turning  of  the  idiom,  which  is 
.required  for  a  given  meaning;  whereas,  when  composing 
originally,  the  idea  may  bs  varied  in  order  to  suit  the  diction 
which  most  readily  presents  itself. 

Poetical  exercises  have  been  commended  on  the  same 
principle  as  translations  from  foreign  languages.  "One 
thing  I  do  know,"  wrote  Sout.hey,  "  to  write  poetry  is  the 
best  preparation  for  writing  prose.  The  verse  maker  acquires 
the  habit  of  weighing  the  meanings  and  qualities  of  words, 
until  he  comes  to  know,  as  if  by  intuition,  what  particular 
word  will  best  fit  into  the  sentence.  People  talk  of  my 
style  !  I  have  only  endeavoured  to  write  plain  English,  and 
to  -Hit  my  thoughts  into  language  which  every  one  can 


20  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

understand."  On  another  occasion  Southey  wrote  : — "  I  am 
glad  that  you  sometimes  wriie  verses,  because  if  ever  you 
become  a  prose  writer,  you  will  find  the  great  advantage  of 
having  written  poetry.  No  poet  ever  becomes  a  mannerist 
in  prose,  nor  falls  into  those  tricks  of  style  which  show  that 
tbr  writer  is  always  labouring  to  produce  effect." 

The  practice  of  reporting  speeches,  sermons,  and  lectures 
is  also  helpful  to  the  acquisition  of  copiousness.  A  Scotch 
ploughman,  living  at  ISanff,  in  describing  how  he  gained  a 
knowledge  of  Phonography,  said  that  he  took  down  in  short- 
hand summaries  from  some  of  the  best  English  authors, 
then,  translated  them  and  compared  them  with  the  originals. 
This  mode  of  practice,  he  says,  improved  him  in  the  art  of 
composition,  as  well  as  in  the  art  of  Phonography.  It  also 
tended  to  occupy  his  mind  intellectually,  so  that  he  did  not 
look  upon  learning  Phonography  as  mere  pen  practice,  but 
as  an  intellectual  exercise  also.  In  this  way  he  acquired  a 
degree  of  proficiency  in  composition  which  he  would  never 
have  attained  otherwise.  Composition  was  a  branch  of 
educatipn  which  he  did  not  learn  at  school,  and  he  was 
convinced  that  he  would  not  in  after  life  have  bestowed  the 
time  and  labour  necessary  to  acquire  the  art,  had  he  not 
learned  it  along  with  Phonography.  He  believed  that  the 
student  of  English  would  derive  great  benefit  from  its  study. 
Phonography  gives  a  strong  impulse  to  English  Composi- 
tion, and  helps  largely  towards  begetting  in  the  student  a 
readiness  of  thought,  exact  and  clear  expression. 


.V.— ON    TAKING    PAINS. 

Excellence  in  writing,  as  in  speaking,  can  be  attained 
only  by  practice  and  by  careful  revision.  It  is  an  art,  and 
like  all  other  arts,  needs  cultivating.  Pope  said  : — 


ON  TAKING  PAINS.  21 

'  True  ease  in  writing  comes  fr^m  wt,  not  chance, 
As  th'ise  move  easiest  who  have  learn'd  to  dance." 

Dr.  Johnson  advised  every  young  man  beginning  to  compose 
to  do  it  as  fast  as  he  could,  and  considered  it  much  more 
difficult  to  improve  in  speed  than  in  accuracy. 

Southey  gave  similar  advice — to  writedown  one's  thoughts 
as  they  arise  and  correct  at  leisure.  The  student  cannot 
begin  to  do  this  too  early.  A  man,  said  Dr.  Johnson,  should 
write  soon,  for  if  he  waits  till  his  judgment  is  matured,  his 
inability,  through  want  of  practice,  to  express  his  conceptions, 
will  oiake  the  disproportion  so  great  between  what  he  sees 
and  what  he  can  attain,  that  he  will  probably  be  discouraged 
from  writing  at  all.  He  should  not,  however,  bo  satisfied 
with  what  he  has  written  until  it  is  as  good  as  he  can  make 
it.  This  is  a  hard  lesson  and  one  which  cannot  be  learned 
too  early.  "  Excellenc?,"  remarked  Sir  Joshua  Eeynolds, 
"  is  never  granted  to  man  but  as  the  reward  of  labour."  A 
common  mistake  is  made  when  great  books  are  attributed  to 
the  genius  of  their  authors.  Genius  their  authors  may  have, 
but  they  themselves  attribute  their  success  to  hard  labour 
alone.  Carlyle,  we  think,  held  that  genius  is  the  faculty  of 
taking  pains.  Sydn?y  Smith  wrote:  "The  multitude  cry 
out  '  A  miracle  of  genius  ! '  '  Yes,'  he  replied,  '  A  man 
proves  a  miracle  of  genius  because  he  has  been  a  miracle  of 
Labour." 

Charles  Dickens  declared  it  impossible- that  any  natural  or 
improved  ability  could  claim  immunity  from  the  companion- 
ship of  the  steady  plain  hard-working  qualities,  and  hope  to 
g.tin  its  end.  It  is  evident  from  a  glimpse  at  his  manuscripts, 
which  form  part  of  the  Forster  collection  in  the  South  Ken- 
sington Museum,  that  Dickens  wrote  with  the  greatest  care, 
and  scrupulously  revised  his  writing  in  order  to  render  each 
'etiteuce  as  perfect  and  effective  as  possible ;  and  Sir  Arthur 


22  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

Helps  lield  that  a  sight  of  the  manuscripts  of  Dickeng 
would  cure  anybody  of  the  idle  and  presumptuous  notion 
that  men  of  genius  require  no  forethought  or  prepara- 
tion fur  their  greatest  efforts.  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
wrote  his  "Chronology"  fifteen  times  over  before  he 
was  satisfied  with  it,  and  Gibbon  his  memoir  nine  times. 
Dr.  Johnson  bestowed  a  great  deal  of  labour  upon  his  writing. 
Being  asked  if  he  could  make  his  "Ramblers"  better,  he 
replied  that  "  he  could  make  the  bast  of  them  better."  Of 
Southey,  Professor  Dowden  tells  us  :  "  He  wrote  at  a  moderate 
pace ;  re-wrote ;  wrote  a  third  time  if  it  seemed  desirable, 
find  corrected  with  minute  supervision.  He  accomplished  so 
much,  not  because  he  produced  with  unexampled  rapidity, 
but  because  he  worked  regularly,  and  never  fell  into  a  mood 
of  apathy  or  ennui."  De  Quincey  is  reported  to  have 
bestowed  incredible  labour  upon  his  works,  re-writing  some 
pages  of  his  "  Confessions  of  an  Opium  Eater"  not  fewer  than 
sixty  times.  He  frequently  re  modelled  and  re-wrote  an 
article  several  times  over  before  he  was  satisfied  with  it. 

Our  best  poets  have  been  equally  painstaking.  Ben 
Jonson  declared,  contrary  to  the  popular  opinion,  "that  a 
good  poet's  made,  as  well  as  born."  So,  also,  Wordsworth : — 

"  0  many  are  the  poets  that  are  sown 
By  nature,  men  endowed  with  highest  gifts, 
The  vision  and  the  faculty  divine  : 
Yet  wanting  the  accomplishment  of  verse, 
Which,  in  the  docile  s  ason  of  their  youth, 
It  was  denied  them  to  acquire  through  lack 
Of  culture,  and  the  inspiring  aid  of  books." 

Tt  is  said  that  Goldsmiih  first  sketched  part  of  the  plan  of 
the  poem  of  the  "  Deserted  Village  "  in  prose,  and  set  down 
his  ideas;  then  he  corrected  them  and  substituted  others 
which  seemed  better.  A  neighbour,  calling  on  him  one 


ON  TAKING  PAINS.  23 

morning,  learned  that  Goldsmith  had  that  morning  written 

these  ten  lines  : — • 

"  Dear  lovely  bowers  of  innocence  and  ease  ! 
Seats  of  my  youth,  where  every  sport  could  please  I 
How  often  have  I  loitered  o'er  thy  green, 
Where  humble  happiness  endeared  each  scene. 
How  often  have  I  paused  on  every  charm, 
The  sheltered  cot,  the  cultivated  farm, 
The  never  failing  brook,  the  busy  mill, 
The  decent  church  that  topped  the  neighbouring  hill 
The  hawthorn  bush,  with  seats  benenth  the  shade, 
For  talking  age,  and  whispering  lovers  made.'1 

"  Come,"  said  he,  "  let  rne  tell  you  that  this  is  no  baa 
morning's  work." 

Mr.  William  Black  says  that  any  young  writer  who  may 
imagine  the  power  of  clear  and  concise  literary  expres- 
sion to  come  by  nature,  cannot  do  better  than  study  in 
Cunningham's  collection  of  Goldsmith's  writings,  the  con- 
tinual and  minute  observations  which  the  author  considered 
necessary,  even  after  the  first  edition,  sometimes  when  the* 
second  and  third  editions  had  been  published.  Many  of 
these,  especially  in  the  poetical  works,  were  merely  improve- 
ments in  sound,  suggested  by  a  singularly  sensitive  ear,  as 
when  he  altered  the  line — 

"Amidst  the  ruins,  heedless  of  the  dead." 

which  appeared  in  the  first  three  editions  of  the  "Traveller," 

into 

"  There  is  a  ruin,  heedless  of  the  dead." 

which  appeared  in  the  fourth  edition.  But  the  majority  of 
the  omissions  and  corrections  were  prompted  by  a  careful 
taste,  which  abhorred  everything  redundant  and  slovenly. 

In  every  new  edition  of  Tennyson's  poems,  changes  for  the 
better  are  observed.  For  instance,  many  at  the  end  of  one 


24  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

of  his  poems  has  been  changed  to  thousand,  which  is  far  more 
definite  For  the  purpose  of  giving  a  concrete  idea,  a  rich 
man  has  been  called  a  Croesus,  and  a  wise  man  a  Solomon. 

Pope  published  nothing  until  it  had  been  a  year  or  two 
before  him,  and  even  then  the  printer's  proofs  were  very  fall  of 
alterations.  On  one  occasion,  his  publisher  thought  it  better 
to  have  the  whole  "  re-composed  "  than  make  the  corrections. 
Of  Bums's  most  popular  song,  "  The  Banks  o'  Doon"  the 
latest  edition  of  his  works  gives  three  different  versions.  In 
the  first  version  the  first  verse  reads  : — 

"  Sweet  are  the  banks,  the  banks  of  Doon, 

The  spreading  flowers  are  fair, 
And  everything  is  blythe  and  glad, 
But  I  am  fu'  of  care." 

The  second  version,  which  is  considered  the  best,  reads : — 

"  Ye  flowery  banks  o'  bonnie  Doon, 

How  can  ye  blume  sae  fair  ? 
How  can  ye  chant,  ye  little  birds, 
And  I  sae  fu'  of  care  !  " 

There  cannot  be  a  doubt  which  is  the  better  verse,  the  more 
musical,  the  more  finished.  Although  Bunas  was  a  great 
genius,  he  spared  no  pains  to  do  his  best.  He  believed  "  that 
the  knack,  the  aptitude  to  learn  the  Muse's  trade  is  a  gift 
bestowed  by  Him  who  forms  the  secret  bias  of  the  soul,"  but 
also  that  "  excellence  in  the  profession  is  the  fruit  of  indus- 
try, attention,  labour,  and  pains;  at  least,"  he  added,  "I 
am  resolved  to  try  my  doctrine  by  the  test  of  experience." 

Balzac  did  not  grudge  devoting  a  week  to  a  page.  His 
method  of  composition  was  unique,  A  French  publisher 
used  to  tell  an  amusing  story  of  Balzac,  who  had  promised  to 
contribute  to  his  projected  periodical,  but  did  not  keep  his 
promise.  At  last,  on  the  eve  of  publication,  the  prin  er's 
messenger  was  sent  to  Balzac's  lodgings  with  strict  instructions 


ON  TAKING  PAINS.  25 

not  to  come  back  empty-handed.  The  messenger  returned 
with  three  or  four  slips  of  paper  on  which  a  few  lines 
had  been  hastily  scribbled.  The  publisher,  however,  knew 
his  man.  The  manuscript  was  speedily  in  type,  and  a  proof 
despatched  to  the  author.  Balzac  returned  it  double  the 
former  size,  v  ith.  e  'asures,  corrections,  and  additions,  crossing 
each  other  between  the  lines  in  inextricable  confusion. 
Eight  times  was  the  process  repeated,  and  at  last  the 
memorable  "monograph"  entitled,  "  Xos  Upiciers,"  was  the 
result.  "  The  corrections  of  that  proof,"  the  publisher  added, 
"  cost  me  .£4:0,  but  I  sold  twenty  thousand  copies  of  the  first 
number." 

Of  modern  writers  who  have  toiled  at  their  composition, 
Macaulay  must  be  placed  among  the  first ;  he  is  said  to  have 
spent  nineteen  working  days  over  thirty  octavo  pages,  and 
ended  by  humbly  acknowledging  that  the  result  was  not  to 
his  mind.  His  biographer — Mr.  G.  0.  Trevelyan — tells  us 
how,  after  repeated  revisions,  having  satisfied  himself  that  his 
writing  was  as  good  as  he  could  make  it,  he  would  submit  it 
to  the  severest  of  all  tests,  that  of  being  read  aloud  to 
others.  His  punctilious  attention  to  details  was  prompted 
by  an  honest  wish  to  increase  the  enjoyment,  and  smooth 
the  difficulties,  of  those  who  did  him  the  honour  to  read  his 
books.  He  never  allowed  a  sentence  to  pass  muster  until  it 
was  as  good  as  he  could  make  it.  He  thought  little  of 
re-casting  a  chapter  in  order  to  obtain  a  more  lucid  arrange- 
ment, and  nothing  whatever  of  re-constructing  a  paragraph 
for  the  sake  of  one  happy  stroke  or  apt  illustration.  As 
showing  what  pains  he  took  with  his  work,  the  following 
extract  is  quoted  :  "  My  account  of  the  Highlands  is  getting 
into  tolerable  shape.  To-morrow  I  shall  begin  to  transcribe 
again,  and  to  polish.  "What  trouble  these  few  pages  will 
have  cost  me.  The  great  object  is,  that  after  all  this  trouble, 


26  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

they  may  read  as  if  they  had  been  spoken  off,  and  may 
seem  to  flow  as  easily  as  table-talk." 

Equally  painstaking  is  Mr.  Bancroft,  the  American 
historian,  for  the  description  of  whose  method  of  working 
we  are  indebted  to  the  fiew  York  Graphic: — 

"  When  he  commences  upon  a  new  volume,  he  decides  first  upon  the 
period  of  time  which  it  shall  cover,  its  scope,  and  particular  features,  if 
any.  This  plan  is  put  in  writing  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  his 
reference  secretary,  Dr.  Frank  Austin  Scott,  a  gentleman  of  unusual 
qualifications  for  the  position,  being  a  proficient  linguist,  and,  from  many 
years'  association  with  Mr.  Bancroft,  almost  as  familiar  with  history  and 
the  details  of  the  work  as  Mr.  Bancroft  himself.  Next  a  diary  is  taken, 
and  under  each  date  are  entered,  with  a  bookkeeper's  precision,  all  the 
occurrences  of  that  time  in  every  corner  of  the  globe,  that  relate  in  any 
respect  to  the  American  Republic.  With  each  record  are  references 
to  the  authority  on  which  the  record  is  based ; .  if  published, 
to  the  volumes  and  pages ;  if  not,  to  the  original  manuscripts 
which  are  filed  away  iu  Mr.  Bancroft's  library.  In  the  com- 
pilation of  this  diary,  every  existing  work,  document,  and  paper  is 
consulted  ;  every  history  or  tradition  of  any  reliability  is  carefully 
gL-aned  by  Mr.  Scott.  In  the  meantime  Mr.  Bancroft  employs  himself 
in  reading  up  on  these  events,  sifting  the  chaff  from  the  wheat,  detecting 
the  spurious,  and  dictating  to  his  writing  secretary  the  suggestions  that 
occur  to  him,  and  the  opinions  deduced  from  the  study.  The  diary 
being  finished,  a  memorandum  book  is  taken,  and  its  pages  are  divided 
into  classification  for  topics  ;  this  is  called  a  topic-bo^k.  The  classifica- 
tions are  not  very  numerous,  the  heads  being  somewhat  as  follows 
'Washington,'  'Army,'  'Finance,'  'Domestic  Affairs,'  'Foreign 
Affairs,'  '  Campaigns,'  '  Congress ; '  under  each  of  these  heads  is 
compiled  all  the  information  contained  in  the  diary  relating  to  each 
particular  topic  ;  so  that,  for  example,  when  Mr.  Bancroft  wants  to  write 
a  chapter  on  the  finance  of  the  government  at  the  time  of  which  he  is 
treating,  he  has  all  the  facts  that  can  be  gained  from  every  possible 
source,  condensed  and  classified  in  their  chronological  order;  all  histories 
in  every  language  are  consulted  ;  all  biographies,  records,  essays,  spt  eches, 
and  papers  ;  transcripts  of  all  existing  public  documents  in  the  archives 
of  the  American,  English,  French,  and  German  Governments,  and  p'so 
all  private  papers  and  correspondence  written  at  the  time.  When  this 


ON  THE  FORMATION  OF  STYLE.         27 

is  completed  by  Mr.  Scott — and  it  takes  mouths  sometimes  to  exhaust  a 
single  topic — Mr.  Bancroft  familiarises  himself  with  the  contents  of  the 
memorandum  book,  marking  passages  of  importance,  making  cross 
references  for  his  own  convenience,  and  indexing  the  events  himself  in 
the  order  in  which  he  intends  to  treat  of  them.  Then  he  dictates  to 
his  writing  secretary  the  text  of  the  volume,  and  as  chapter  after 
chapter  is  finished,  it  is  laid  away  to  "  season  "  for  a  time.  The  matter 
is  then  written  and  re-written,  until  it  suits  Mr.  Bancroft's  sensitive 
taste.  When  he  is  satisfied  with  the  arrangement,  the  stylo  ana 
completeness  of  a  chapter,  it  is  sent  to  his  publishers.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Bancroft's  work,  compared  with  the  writings  of  other  authors,  looks 
very  small  as  the  result  of  the  labours  of  a  lifetime ;  but  this  descrip- 
tion of  his  method  will  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  vast  amount  of 
study,  investigation,  and  thought  each  volume  represents." 

These  illustrations  of  the  way  in  which  really  great  books 
are  written,  will,  it  is  hoped,  help  to  remove  the  false 
impression  that  such  works  are  the  spontaneous  outcome  of 
natural  intuition. 


V.— ON   THE   FORMATION   OF   STYLE. 

Students  are  frequently  advised  to  acquire  style  in  writing. 
The  word  is  derived  from  stylus,  the  pointed  iron  instrument 
with  which  the  Romans  wrote  upon  their  wax-covered  tablets. 
It  is  often  employed  by  Cicero  to  denote  the  manner  of 
expressing  thoughts  in  writing,  and  is  used  in  that  sense  in 
our  own  time.  In  the  primary  necessity  for  the  study  of 
models  of  style,  most  authors  agree.  Gibbons,  it  is  said, 
studied  the  style  of  Blackstone,  and  Pope  formed  his  style 
upon  that  of  Dryden.  Buckle,  the  author  of  the  "  History 
of  Civilisation,"  spent  four  hours  every  day  in  studying 
style.  His  method  was  to  read  a  few  pages  of  Hallam,  or 
Burke,  or  pny  other  master,  and  then  to  write  in  his  own 
language  the  substance  of  his  reading ;  afterwards  he 
compared  the  two,  in  order,  as  he  says,  "  to  find  out  where 


28  ilNGLISII  COMPOSITION. 

it  was  that  I  wrote  worse  than  they."  His  biographer  says 
that  Buckle  also  read  the  best  French  authors  for  the  same 
purpose;  and  so  great  was  his  industry  that,  although  this 
regular  stTidy  occupied  him  only  a  few  years,  he  never  con- 
sidered that  he  had  attained  perfection,  but  continually 
studied  how  to  attain  further  excellence.  Even  after  tho 
publication  of  his  first  volume  we  find  the  following  entries 
in  his  diary:  "Read  Burke  for  his  style;"  "made  notes  on 
style  from  Whateley  and  H.  Spencer ;"  "  began  to  read 
Johnson's  English  Dictionary  to  enlarge  my  vocabulary;" 
"  read  Milton's  prose  works  for  the  style,  especially  for  the 
vocabulary."  Describing  how  he  acquired  a  good  style,  the 
late  Rev.  Thomas  Binney,  a  famous  preacher,  said  : — 

"  I  read  many  of  the  best  authors,  and  I  wrote  largely  both  poetry 
and  prose  ;  and  I  did  so  with  much  painstaking.  I  laboured  to  acquire 
a  good  style  of  expressiveness,  as  well  as  merely  to  express  my  thoughts. 
Some  of  the  plans  I  pursued  were  rather  odd,  and  produced  odd  results. 
I  read  the  whole  of  Johnson's  '  Rasselas,'  put  down  all  the  new  words 
I  met  with — and  they  were  a  good  many — with  their  proper  meanings, 
and  then  I  wrote  essays  in  imitation  of  Johnson,  and  used  them  up.  I 
did  the  same  with  Thomson's  'Seasons,'  and  wrote  blank  verse  to  use 
his  words,  and  also  to  acquire  something  of  music  and  rhythm.  And 
BO  I  went  on,  sometimes  writing  long  poems  in  heroic  verse  ;  one  on  the 
'  Being  of  a  God,'  another  in  two  or  three  '  books,'  in  blank  verse,  in 
imitation  of  '  Para  lise  Lost.'  I  wrote  essays  on  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  sermons,  a  tragedy  in  three  acts,  and  other  things  very  wonderful  in 
their  way.  I  think  I  can  say  I  never  fancied  myself  a  poet  or  a  philos- 
opher; but  I  wrote  on  and  on  to  acquire  the  power  to  write  with 
readines?,  and  I  say  to  you,  with  a  full  conviction  of  the  truth  of  what 
I  say,  that  having  lived  to  gain  some  little  reputation  as  a  writer,  I 
attribute  all  my  success  to  what  I  did  for  myself,  and  to  the  habits  I 
formed  during  those  years  to  which  I  have  thus  referred." 

There  is  scarcely  a  writer  of  eminence  who  has  not,  for 
purposes  of  style,  made  a  study  of  great  authors.  Sir  Jamea 
Mackintosh  divided  the  history  of  style  into  three  periods; 


ON  THE  FORMATION  OF  STYLE.         29 

the  first  period  extending  from  Sir  Thomas  Mure  to  Lord 
Clarendon  ;  the  second  from  the  Restoration  to  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century  ;  the  third  from  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  represented  by  a  school  of  writers 
of  which  Dr.  Johnson  was  the  fcunder.  Our  own  age  is  the 
fourth  period.  It  has,  as  Dr.  Angus  remarks,  all  the  ease 
of  Addisou,  with  the  nervous  compactness  of  Bacon,  the 
sonorousness  of  Johnson,  and  the  lightnes-s  of  De  Foe. 
In  order  to  acquire  a  good  style  of  expression,  the  best 
works  of  the  best  authors  should  be  studied — Shakespeare, 
Milton,  Addison,  Hume,  Burke,  Cobbett,  Macaulay,  Buckle, 
Tennyson,  Ruskin,  for  instnnce,  not  with  the  view  of  imitating 
any  style,  but  for  purposes  of  mastery  and  comparison. 
A  man's  style  is  a  transcript  of  his  own  character.  "  Every 
man,"  says  Lessing,  "  has  his  own  style,  just,  as  every  man 
has  his  own  nose";  and  Carlyle  declared  that  no  man  can 
change  his  style  any  more  than  he  can  change  his  skin.  It 
is  hard,  indeed,  to  read  Carlyle,  much  more  to  imitate 
his  style  The  eminent  French  critic,  M.  Taine,  describes 
him  as  "an  extraordinary  animal,  a  relict  of  a  lost  family,  a 
sort  of  mastodon  in  a  world  not  made  for  him."  He  remarks 
that  Carlyle— 

"  Takes  everything  in  a  contrary  meaning,  does  violence  to  everything, 
expressions  and  things.  With  him  paradoxes  are  set  down  as  principles 
common  sense  takes  the  form  of  absurdity.  *  .  .  .  Carlyle  always 
speaks  in  riddles;  '  logic-choppei-s '  is  the  name  he  gives  to  the  analysts 
of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  '  beaver-science '  is  his  word  for  the  catalogues 
and  classifications  of  our  modern  men  of  science  ;  '  transcendental 
moonshine'  signifies  the  philosophical  and  sentimental  dreams  imported 
from  Germany  ;  the  religion  of  the  '  rotatory  calabash '  means  external 
and  m  ehauical  religion." 

Different  people  have,  of  course,  different  views  upon 
Carlyle,  as  they  have  upon  other  writers.  Mr.  Russell 
Lowell,  the  American  minister  in  London,  and  author  of  the 


30  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

famous  "  Biglow  Papers,"  says  that  when  he  was  an  uiitler- 
gracluate  at  Harvard  he  remembered  perfectly  a  book  that  was 
published,  aud  produced  in  his  own  mind  and  nature,  ho 
thinks,  as  great  a  ferment  as  it  did  in  those  of  all  his  con- 
temporaries. That  book  was  "Sartor  Resartus."  It  was 
first  collected  and  published  by  subscription  in  the  year 
1836,  at  Boston,  in  the  United  States,  and  it  there  received 
its  first  appreciation.  Mr  Lowell  also  said  that  when 
"Sartor  Resartus"  began  to  appear  in  "Fraser's  Magazine," 
the  editor  received  two  letters.  One  was  from  an  Irishman, 
saying  that  if  that  particular  kind  of  stuff  was  to  be  con- 
tinued, he  wished  his  subscription  to  be  instantly  stopped. 
The  other  was  a  letter  from  an  American,  saying  that  if  the 
author  who  had  been  writing  "Sartor  Resartus  "  had  written 
anything  else,  he  wished  it  might  be  sent  to  him.  The 
second  letter  was  from  Mr.  Ralph  Waldo  Emersen,  the  famed 
American  essayist.  Mr.  Lowell  couside'S  that  all  modern 
literature  has  felt  Carlyle's  influence,  and  felt  it  in  a  healthy 
direction.  Thackeray  said  that  Carlyle  was  his  master,  and 
Ruskin  says  the  same.  No  two  men  are  more  unlike  than 
Thackeray  and  Ruskin,  and,  as  Mr.  Lowell  points  out,  it 
shows  the  universality  of  Carlyle's  influence.  Mr.  Peter 
Bayne  speaks  of  Charles  Kinirsley  as  having  been  so  pro- 
foundly influenced  by  the  writings  of  Carlyle  that  he  almost 
lost  his  personal  identity.  Carlyle  did  not  always  write  in 
his  peculiar  German-English  style,  arc  Mr.  Henry  Morley 
considers  that  this  peculiarity  increased  upon  him  as  his 
success  increased,  and  that  it  was  a  blemish  more  visible  in 
his  later  works.  His  essay  on  the  character  of  the  poetry  and 
life  of  Burns  is  "  so  rare  in  its  excellence,  so  fine  and  final  in 
its  perfection,  that  for  fifty  years  it  has  served  as  an  epitome 
of  what  requires  to  be  known  respecting  the  poet,  and  serves 
besides  as  perhaps  the  finest  model  in  existence  of  that 


ON  THE  FORMATION  OF  STYLE.         31 

species  of  literary  composition  in  which  a  symmetrical, 
complete,  satisfactory  biography  is  condensed  into  an  essay." 
Turning  from  Carlyle  to  Macau  lay  is  like  turning  from  the 
lurid  light  of  a  furnace  to  the  broad  clear  blaze  of  the  noon- 
day sun.  Carlyle  does  not  seem  to  have  cared  to  write  in  a 
language  which  everybody  could  understand.  Macaulay,  on 
the  other  hand,  possessed  the  art  of  writing  what  "people 
will  like  to  read."  In  a  criticism  upon  his  style,  Mr.  John 
Morley  observes  : — 

"  The  first  and  most  obvious  secret  of>  Macaulay's  place  on  popular 
book-shelves  is  that  he  has  a  true  genius  for  narration,  and  narration 
will  always,  in  the  eyes,  not  only  of  our  squatters  in  the  Australian 
bush,  but  of  the  many  all  over  the  world,  stand  first  among  literary 
gifts.  ...  He  had  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  imaginative^ 
literature  and  the  histories  of  Greece  and  Rome,  with  the  literature 
aud  the  hist  ry  of  modern  Italy,  of  France,  and  of  England.  Whatever 
his  special  subject,  he  contrives  to  pour  into  it,  with  singular  dexterity, 
a  stream  of  rich,  graphic,  and  telling  illustratit  ns  from  all  these  widely 
diversified  sources.  .  .  .  There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  deliberate 
and  systematic  imitation  of  Macaulay,  often  by  clever  men  who  might 
well  have  trusted  to  their  own  resources.  Its  most  conspicuous  vices 
are  easy  to  imitate,  but  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  less  familiar  with 
literature  than  Llacaulay  to  reproduce  his  style  effectively,  for  the 
reason,  that  it  is  before  all  else  the  style  of  great  literary  knowledge. 
Maoaulay's  knowledge  was  not  only  very  wide,  but  thoroughly  accurate 
and  instantly  ready.  For  this  stream  of  apt  illustrations  he  was  indebted 
to  his  extraordinary  memory,  an  1  his  rapid  eye  for  contrasts  and 
analogies.  They  come  to  the  end  of  his  pen  as  he  writes  ;  they  are  not 
laboriously  hunted  out  in  indexes,  and  then  added  by  way  of  after- 
thought and  extraneous  interpolation.  Hence  quotations  and  references 
that,  in  a  writer  even  of  equal  knowledge,  but  with  his  wits  less  promptly 
about  him,  would  seem  mechanical  and  awkward,  find  their  place  in  a 
page  of  Macaulay  as  if  by  a  delightful  process  of  complete  assimilatioa 
and  spontaneous  fusion.  .  .  .  Again,  nobody  can  have  auy  excuse 
for  not  knowing  exactly  what  it  is  that  Macaulay  means.  .  .  .  He 
never  wrote  an  obscure  sentence,  and  this  may  seem  a  small  merit, 
until  we  rtmember  of  how  few  writers  we  could  fv\  the  same." 


32  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

Macau!  ay's  style,  like  Carlyle's,  was  original.  Dean  Miltnan 
h?s  pointed  out  that  it  was  eminently  his  own,  but  his  own 
not  by  strange  words,  or  strange  collocation  of  words,  by 
phrases  of  perpetual  occurrence,  or  the  straining  after  original 
and  striking  terms  of  expression.  Its  characteristics  were 
vigour  and  animation,  copiousness,  clearness — above  all, 
suuni  English,  now  a  rare  excellence.  As  to  its  clearness, 
be  said  that  one  may  read  a  sentence  of  Macaulay  tnice  to 
judge  its  full  force,  never  to  comprehend  its  meaning.  His 
English  was  pure,  both  in  idiom  and  in  words,  pure  to 
fastidiousness ;  not  that  he  discarded  or  did  not  make  free 
use  of  the  plainest  and  most  homely  terms,  but  every  word 
must  be  genuine  English,  nothing  that  approached  vulgarity, 
nothing  that  had  not  tho  stamp  of  popular  use,  or  the 
authority  of  sound  English  writers,  nothing  unfamiliar  to  the 
common  ear.  He  realised  his  own  ideal:  "The  diligence, 
tho  accuracy,  and  the  judgment  of  Hallam,  united  to  the 
vivacity  and  the  colouring  of  Southey, — a  history  of  England 
written  throughout  in  this  manner  would  be  the  most 
fascinating  book  in  the  language ;  it  would  be  more  in  request 
at  the  circulating  libraries  than  the  last  novel."  This  was 
written  in  1 835,  and  accurately  foretold  the  fortune  of  his  own 
history  twenty  years  later. 


VI.— ON  THE  STUDY  OF  MODELS. 

We  must  study  alike  from  the  historian  and  the  novelist. 
Mr.  Peter  Bayne  expresses  the  opinion  that  there  is  probably 
no  master  of  English  pro^e  whom  it  is  so  safe  and  so  profitable 
to  study  as  a  model  as  Thackeray.  He  considers  that  great 
novelist  unsurpassed  in  nice  precision  of  correspondence  be- 
tween word  and  meaning,  in  knowledge  of  the  one  right  word, 


ON  THE  STUDY  OP  MODELS.  33 

the  one  idiomatic  phrase  that  he  wants,  in  that  tnie  force 
which  rejects  all  superfluity.  He  adds,  that  in  imitating 
authors  of  more  brilliant  and  paradoxical  genius  yon  become  a 
laughable  parodist;  but  yon  cannot  imitate  Thackeray  too 
closely,  for  his  whole  art  is  to  put  the  right  word  in  the  right 
place. 

Dr.  Johnson  declared  that  whoever  wished  to  attain  an 
English  style,  familiar  but  not  coarse,  and  elegant  but  not 
ostentatious,  must  give  his  days  and  nights  to  the  study  of 
Addison.  The  learned  doctor  gave  very  good  advice,  but 
like  many  others,  did  not  follow  it,  for  no  two  writers 
wrote  more  unlike  each  other.  Addison's  style  was  easy  and 
natural ;  Johnson's,  rhetorical  and  sonorous.  One  critic 
says  that  Johnson's  style  reminds  him  of  a  giant  cracking- 
nuts.  Goldsmith  told  Johnson  that  if  he  were  to  write  a 
book  about  little  fishes,  he  would  make  them  all  talk  lile 
whales;  and  Macaulay  remarked  that  Johnson  wrote  in  a 
style  in  which  no  one  ever  made  love,  quarrelled,  drovs 
bargains,  or  even  thought.  When  he  wrote  for  his  friends,  he 
wrote  good  strong  English  ;  but  when  he  wrote  for  publica- 
tion, he  "  did  his  sentences  into  Johnsonese."* 

Much  may  be  learned  from  Dr.  Johnson's  writings,  but 
his  style  is  bad ;  and  we  may  say  of  his,  as  Person  said  o 

*  One  clever  writer  has  lately  attempted  a  defence  of  Dr.  Johnson's 
pompous  style,  saying  that  the  sage  drew  his  distinctions  as  he  drew  his 
breath,  and  that  he  could  not  express  these  distinctions  without  couch- 
ing his  diction  in  Latin-born  phrases.  The  answer  to  this  is  simple. 
He  drew  distinctions  with  equal  subtlety  when  he  was  talking,  and  he 
expressed  them  in  the  homeliest  Teutonic.  He  has  had  his  reward.  His 
Rambler  lies  unread  on  our  bookshelves.  His  talk,  as  recorded  by  Boswell, 
will  be  perused  every  year  by  thousands  of  delighted  student?.  Any 
writer  of  our  day  who  has  a  mind  to  be  read  a  hundred  years  hence, 
should  lay  the  lesson  to  heart. — Oliphant  Old  and  Middle  Enylish,  1878, 
p.  589. 

C 


34  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

Gibbon's,  there  could  not  be  a  better  exercise  for  a  student 
than  to  turn  a  page  of  his  writings  into  English.  Two  years 
after  Goldsmith's  death,  his  friends  erected  a  tablet  to  his 
memory  in  the  poet's  corner  of  Westminster  Abbey.  Johnson 
wrote  the  inscription  in  Latin,  which  contains  the  famous 
phrase,  "He  touched  nothing  that  he  did  not  adorn."  He 
was  asked  to  make  a  few  alterations  in  the  original  draft, 
and,  in  particular,  to  transform  it  into  the  poet's  native 
language.  His  answer  was  characteristic:  "  Any  alteration 
that  might  be  thought  necessary  he  would  make  with  pleasure, 
but  he  would  never  consent  to  disgrace  the  walls  of  West- 
minster Abbey  with  an  English  inscription  !"  He  made  n 
similar  remark  on  another  occasion.  A  monument  having 
been  erected  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Smollett,  Dr.  Johnson 
was  consulted  as  to  an  inscription  for  it.  Lord  Kaimes,  the 
author  of  the  "Elements  of  Criticism,"  advised  an  English 
inscription.  Dr.  Johnson  treated  his  counsel  with  contempt, 
and  declared  that  an  English  inscription  would  be  a  disgrace 
to  Dr.  Smollett.  When  travelling  in  Scotland  he  showed  a 
similar  partiality  for  Latin.  Coming  to  a  parish  church,  he 
saw  the  monument  of  Sir  James  Macdonald.  and  on  it  an 
inscription  in  English.  He  remarked  to  Boswell.  his  fellow- 
traveller,  that  it  should  have  been  in  Latin,  like  everything 
intended  to  be  universal  and  permanent. 

Macaulay  held  that  the  first  rule  of  all  writing — that  rule 
to  which  every  other  rule  is  subordinate — -is  that  the  words 
used  by  the  writer  shall  be  such  as  most  fully  and  precisely 
convey  Ins  meaning  to  the  great  body  of  his  readers.  We 
consider  this  an  excellent  rule  for  all  writers,  and  especially 
for  those  who  wish  to  communicate  knowledge.  Roger 
Ascham,  a  great  English  scholar,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  said,  "He  that  will  write  well  in  any 
tongue  must  follow  the  council  of  Aristotle,  to  speak  as  the 


ON  THE   STUDY  OF  MODELS.  35 

common  people  speak,  to  think  as  wise  men  think.  Many 
English  writers,"  he  added,  "use  strange  words,  as  Latin, 
French,  and  Italian,  and  do  mike  all  things  dark  and  hard." 
Few  writers  have  carried  out  Ascham's  precept  more  fully 
than  Bunyan  in  his  "  Pilgrim's  Progress  "  In  this  work  he 
uses  the  most  simple  and  homely  words.  Macaulay  con- 
sidered Bunyan's  style  invaluable  as  a  study  to  every  person 
who  wishes  to  obtain  a  wide  command  over  the  English 
language.  "His  vocabulary,"  he  said,  "is  the  vocabulary  of 
the  common  people.  There  is  not  an  expression,  if  we  except 
a  few  technical  terms  of  theology,  which  would  piizzle  the 
rudest  peasant.  We  have  observed  several  pages  which  do 
not  contain  a  single  word  of  more  than  two  syllables,  ytt  no 
writer  has  said  more  exactly  what  he  meant  to  say.  For 
magnificence,  for  pathos,  for  vehement  exhortation,  for  subtle 
disquisition,  for  every  purpose  of  the  poet,  the  orator  and  the 
divine,  this  homely  dialect  of  plain  working  men  was  perfectly 
sufficient.  There  is  no  book  in  our  literature  on  which  we 
would  so  readily  stake  the  fame  of  tha  unpolluted  English 
language,  no  book  which  shows  so  well  how  rich  that  language 
is,  in  its  own  proper  wealth,  and  how  little  it  has  improved 
by  all  that  it  has  borrowed." 

Kuskin,  above  all,  should  be  read  and  studied.  He  is  the 
great  English  clas  io.  In  perspicuity,  in  grace,  in  purity,  in 
picturesqueness,  he  is.  unequalled.  He  is  a  poet  in  pross 
His  "Sesame  and  Lilies,"  and  his  "Crown  of  Wild  Olives," 
contain  the  finest  passages  in  the  whole  range  of  English 
prose ;  the  former  in  the  lecture  entitled  "  Queen's  Gardens,' 
the  latter  in  the  lecture  on  "  War."  In  a  review  of 
"Arrows  of  the  Chase,"  the  Athenaeum  (December  18th, 
1880)  says  :— 

"  At  his  worst  Mr.  Ruskin  is  a  better  writer  than  most  men  ;  at  his 
best  ho  is  incomparable.     He  has  a  magnificent  vocabu];>ry,  a  perfect 


86  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

and  unerring  sense  of  expression,  a  wonderful  instinct  of  rhythm.  He 
nas  much  to  say,  and  he  knows  &•>  well  how  to  eay  it  that  people  are  apt 
to  value  his  sayings  even  more  for  their  manner's  sike  than  for  that  of 
their  matter.  It  is  the  common  lot  of  most  of  tlmse  who  deal  in  prose, 
to  be  either  useful  at  the  expense  of  beauty,  or  ornamental  at  the  cost  of 
serviceableness,  With  Mr.  Ruskin  it  is  otherwise.  To  him  the  instru- 
ment of  prose  is  lyre  and  axe,  ia  lamp  and  trowel,  is  a  brush  to  paint 
•with,  and  a  sword  to  slay,  in  one.  A  great  artist  in  speech,  he  is  a 
living  and  working  exemplification  of  the  theory  which  holds  that 
English  prose  is  of  no  particular  epoch,  but  that  in  all  its  essentials,  and 
allowing  for  the  influence  of  current  fashions  of  speech,  it  is  one  and  the 
same  thing  with  Shakespeare  and  with  Addison,  with  Bunyan  and  with 
Burke,  with  Browne,  with  Bacon,  and  with  Carlyle  and  Sterne." 

In  the  preface  to  this  book,  a  preface  which  the  Athenceum 
considers  a  charming  example  of  his  latest,  manner,  and  a 
model  of  pure,  sweet,  equable  English,  Mr.  Ruskiu  says  that 
at  one  time  of  his  life  he  was  fonder  of  metaphor  and  more 
fertile  in  simile  than  he  is  now,  and  that  he  employed  both 
with  franker  trust  in  the  reader's  intelligence.  Carefully 
chosen,  they  are,  he  says,  always  a  powerful  means  of  con- 
centration, and  he  would  then  dismiss  in  six  words,  ("Thistle- 
down without  seeds,  and  bubbles  without  odour,")  forms  of 
art  on  which  he  would  now  perhaps  spend  half  a  page  of 
analytic  vituperation.  We  readily  believe  Mr.  Ruskiu  when 
he  says  that  a  sentence  of  "Modern  Painters"  was  written 
four  or  five  times  over  in  his  own  hand,  "and  tried  in  every 
word  for  perhaps  an  hour- --perhaps  a  forenoon — before  it 
>yas  passed  for  the  printer." 

Professor  Bl.ickie  warns  students  not  to  be  over  anxious 
about  mere  style,  as  if  it  were  a  thing  that  could  be  culti- 
vated independently  of  ideas.  "  Be  more  careful,"  he 
remarks,  "  that  you  snould  have  something  weighty  and 
pertinent  to  say,  than  that  you  should  say  things  in  the 
most  polished  and  skilful  way.  There  is  good  sense  in  what 
Socrates  said  to  the  eleven  young  Greeks,  that  if  they  had 


ENGLISH  OR  LATIN?  87 

anything  to  say  they  would  know  how  to  say  it ;  and  to  the 
same  effect  spake  St.  Paul  to  the  early  Corinthian  Christians  ; 
and,  in  these  last  times,  the  wise  Goethe  to  the  German 

students : — 

Be  thine  to  seek  the  honest  gain, 

No  shallow  sounding  fo'jl ; 
Sound  sense  finds  utterance  for  itself, 

Without  the  critic's  rule  ; 
If  to  your  heart  your  tongue  be  true, 
Why  hunt  for  words  with  much  ado  ? 

But  with  this  reservation,  that  you  cannot  be  too  diligent  in 
acquiring  the  habit  of  expressing  your  thoughts  on  paper 
with  that  combination  of  lucid  order,  graceful  ease,  pregnant 
signification,  and  rich  variety,  which  marks  a  good  style." 

With  Professor  Black ie  we  heartily  agree.  A  good  style 
should  be  formed  in  youth.  Inattention  to  style  ia  early 
life  is  the  cause  of  much  of  the  slovenly  writing  which 
disgraces  our  literature.  A  clear  style  is  a  great  acquisition. 
Reviewing  Mr.  George  Grote's  history  of  Greece,  the  Tim<s, 
whilst  speaking  very  highly  of  the  substantial  value  of  the 
work,  described  it  as  among  the  very  worst  of  English 
writings,  and  added,  "  Mr.  Grote  must  remember  that  no 
man  who  writes  for  posterity  can  afford  to  neglect  the  art  of 
composition.  The  trimmer  bark,  though  less  richly  laden, 
•will  float  further  down  the  stream  of  time,  and  when  so 
many  authors  of  real  ability  and  learning  are  competing  for 
every  niche  in  the  temple  of  fame,  the  coveted  place  will 
assuredly  be  won  by  style." 


VII.— ENGLISH  OR  LATIN? 

The  question  arises  whether  words  of  Saxon  or  of  Latin 
origin  should  be  preferred  in  composition.  Dr.  Angus  well 
remarks  that  Anglo-Saxon  words  are  most  appropriate  wheu 


88  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

we  describe  individual  things,  natural  feelings,  domestic  life, 
the  poetry  of  nature  ;  words  of  Latin  origin  when  we  describe 
the  results  of  generalisation  or  of  abstraction,  the  discoveries 
of  science.  He  illustrates  these  rules  by  the  following 
examples :  Is  it  philosophy  you  discuss  ?  Then  "  the  im- 
penetrability of  matter"  will  be  found  a  better  phrase  than 
its  Anglo-Saxon  equivalent  "  the  unthorough  faresomeness 
of  stuff."  Is  it  natural  feeling?  "Paternal  expectations" 
and  "  maternal  attachment "  are  less  impressive  than  a 
"father's  hopes"  and  ''mother's  love."  "In  one  of  my 
early  interviews  with  Robert  Hall,  the  great  Baptist 
preacher,"  his  biographer,  Gregory,  said,  '  I  used  the  word 
felicity  three  or  four  times  in  rather  quick  sue  -esaion.  Why 
do  you  say  felicity  1  he  asked.  '  Happiness '  is  a  better 
word,  more  musical,  and  genuine  English,  coming  from  the 
Saxon.'  'Not  more  musical,  I  think.  'Yes,  more 
musical ;  and  so  are  words  derived  from  the  Saxon  gener- 
ally.' '  My  heart  is  smitten  and  withered  like  grass.' 
There's  plaintive  music.  Listen  again.  '  Under  the  shadow 
of  thy  wings  will  I  rejoice.'  There's  cheerful  music.  '  Yes, 
but  rejoice  is  French.  '  True,  but  all  the  rest  is  Saxon,  and 
rejoice  is  almost  out  of  tune  with  the  other  words.  Listen 
again.  '  Thou  hast  delivered  my  eyes  from  tears,  my  soul 
from  death,  and  my  feet  from  falling.'  All  Saxon  except 
delivered.  I  could  think  of  the  word  tears  till  I  wept. 
Then  again,  for  another  noble  specimen,  and  almost  all  good 
Saxon- English  :  '  Surely  goodness  and  mercy  shall  follow  me 
all  the  days  of  my  life,  and  I  shall  dwell  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord  for  ever.'  "* 

*  To  one  striking  quality  of  Mr.  Hall's  style  I  must  make  pointed 
advertence.  I  refer  to  its  musical  structure.  Great  writers  are  aa 
much  composers  as  great  musicians.  They  test  the  sound  of  words  by 


ENGLISH   OR  LATIN?  89 

Southey  considered  Cobbett  one  of  the  best  writers  having 
a  Saxon  basis.  "  He  is  very  much  in  earnest,"  he  said, 
"  and  writes  without  stopping  to  pick  out  pretty  worda,  or 
round  off  polished  sentences."  Carlyle  held  quite  the  same 
opinion.  For  strength,  expressiveness,  and  majestic  move- 
ment, what  could  equal  the  following  lines  from  Byron's 
"Destruction  of  Sennacherib,"  in  which  nearly  all  the  words 
are  Anglo-Saxon? 

"  For  the  angel  of  death  spread  hia  wings  on  the  blast, 
And  breathed  in  the  face  of  the  foe  as  he  passed  ; 
And  the  eyes  of  the  sleepers  wax  deadly  and  chill, 
And  their  hearts  beat  but  once,  and  forever  lay  still." 

The  preacher,  as  well  as  the  poet,  realises  the  value  and  the 
force  of  English  words.  The  success  of  Mr.  Spurgeon  is 
largely  owing  to  his  use  of  homely  but  forcible  language. 

Addressing  the  students  of  a  business  college  at  New 
York,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Collyer  said: — "Do  you  want  to  know 
how  I  manage  to  talk  to  you  in  this  simple  Saxon  ?  I 
read  Bunyati,  Crusoe,  and  Goldsmith,  when  I  was  a  boy, 
morning,  n  )on  and  night ;  all  the  rest  was  task  work.  These 
were  my  delight,  with  the  stories  in  the  Bible,  and  with 

a  sense  as  exquisite  as  that  which  tries  notes  of  music.  They  combine 
words,  as  the  musician  blends  his  notes,  iuto  sprightly  or  solemn  move- 
ments, into  triumphal  swells  or  dying  falls.  This  art  is  one  of  the 
secrets  of  genius  —  untaught  and  uucomtnuuicable  —  and  this  Hall 
possessed  in  perfection.  His  sermons  are  magnificent  lyrics  ;  each 
separate  paragraph  is  a  melody,  and  the  periods  are  like  bars  in  a  (strain 
of  music.  I  don't  know  that  he  ever  wrote  a  line  of  poetry,  nor  am  I 
aware  whether  he  had  what  is  called  an  ear  for  music,  but  the  divine 
spirit  of  poetry  colours  hia  prose,  and  beyond  all  rules  of  musical  art — 
"  His  thoughts  involuntary  move 
Harmonious  numbers." 

— CHRISTOFHER,  "Poetc  of  Methodism." 


40  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION". 

Shakespeare,  when  at  last  the  mighty  master  came  within 
our  doors.  The  rest  were  as  senna  to  me.  1  h  so  were  like 
a  well  of  pure  water,  and  this  is  the  first  step  I  s^em  to  have 
taken  of  my  own  free  will  towrrd  the  pnlpit.  I  must  go  to 
Sunday  School,  but  I  could  pick  my  hooks  week-days  from 
that  little  shelf.  I  took  to  these  as  I  took  to  milk,  and 
without  having  the  least  idea  what  I  was  doing,  got  the  taste 
for  simple  words  into  the  very  fibre  of  my  nature." 


VIII.— ON  SIMPLICITY  IN  STYLE. 

First  among  the  characteristics  of  a  good  style  comes 
clearness.  This  quality  is  held  by  all  authorities  to  be 
of  the  first  importance,  and  the  one  upon  which  the 
utmost  pains  should  be  bestowed.  "  By  perspicuity,"  wrote 
Quintilian,  "  care  is  taken,  not  merely  that  the  reader  may 
clearly  understand,  but  that  he  cannot  possibly  misunder- 
stand." To  write  clearly,  it  is  absolutely  essential  to  think 
clearly;  for  obscurity,  which  is  opposed  to  perspicuity, 
often  arises  from  confusion  of  thought.  Perspicuity  implies 
simplicity,  brevity,  and  precision. 

It  should  be  the  aim  of  every  writer  to  use  words 
which  can  be  readily  understood  by  those  whom  lie 
addresses.  This  is  a  reading  age,  but  those  who  want 
to  be  read  widely,  and  to  be  understood,  must  write  so  as 
to  give  readers  as  little  trouble  as  possible.  To  this  end 
they  must  use  special,  instead  of  general,  terms,  because 
special  terms  are  more  easily  understood.  They  are,  it  has 
been  well  said,  grasped  by  a  single  act  of  thought,  and  the 
images  they  call  up  are  definite  and  precise.  On  the  other 
hand,  general  terms  necessitate  a  complex  mental  act. 
According  to  Professor  Campbell,  the  more  general  the  terms 


ON  SIMPLICITY  IN  STYLE.  41 

the  fainter  the  picture ;  the  more  special,  the  brighter  the 
picture  ;  and  he  illustrates  this  principle  by  the  following 
examples:  In  the  song  of  Moses,  occasioned  by  the  miraculous 
passage  of  the  Israelites  through  the  Red  Sea,  the  inspired 
poet,  speaking  of  the  Egyptians,  says  : — 

"  They  sank  as  lead  in  tho  mighty  v  atera.'* 
which  is  much  more  effective  than — 

"  They  fell  as  me'al  in  the  mighty  waters. 

In  whichever  way  expressed,  the  idea  is  the  same,  but  the 
difference  in  the  effect  is  due  to  the  change  from  specific  to 
general  term 3. 

Again  : — 

"  Consider  the  lilies  how  they  grow ;  they  toil  not,  they  spin  not ; 
and  yet  I  say  unto  you  that  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed 
1  ke  one  of  these.  If,  then,  God  so  clothe  the  grass  which  to-day  is  in 
the  fi  Id,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  how  much  moro  will  Ho 
clothe  you  ? " 

If  we  change  from  specific  to  general  terms,  the  verses 
would  read,  according  to  Professor  Campbell — 

"  Consider  the  flowers  how  they  gradually  increase  in  their  size  ;  they 
do  no  manner  of  work,  and  yet  I  declare  to  you  that  no  king  whatever, 
in  his  most  splendid  habit,  is  dressed  up  li  ;e  them.  If,  th^n,  God  in  His 
providence  doth  so  adorn  the  vegetable  productions  which  continue  but 
a  little  time  on  the  land,  and  are  afterwards  put  into  the  fire,  how 
much  more  will  He  provide  clothing  for  you  ? " 

Di\  Morell  supplies  us  with  a  modern  illustration  of  this 
rule.  A  member  of  a  Par.:iamentary  Committee,  he  says, 
asks  a,  witness.  "  Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  state,  for  the 
information  of  the  Committee,  what  is  the  ordinary  beverage 
of  the  industrial  population  in  your  locality?''  lie  meant, 
"What  do  working  men  in  your  part  of  the  country  usually 
drink  V 


42  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

THE   USB    OF   FINE    PHRASES   IS   A   VIOLATION  OF  SIMPLICITY. 

Whoever  wrote  the  following  sentence  thought  he  was  writing 
grandly :  — 

"  The  night,  now  far  advanced,  was  brilliantly  bright  with  radiance 
of  astral  and  lunar  effu'gence." 

He  meant : — 

"  The  night  was  far  gone,  and  the  moon  and  the  stars  were  shining 
brightly." 

Even  Mr.  Ruskin  confesses  that  he  wrote  sometimes  thus 
when  too  young;  when  he  knew  only  half  truths,  and  was 
eager  to  set  them  forth  by  what  he  thought  fine  words.  He 
says  :— 

"  People  used  to  call  me  a  good  writer  then  ;  now  they  say  I  can't 
write  at  all,  because,  for  instance,  if  I  think  anybody's  house  is  on  fire, 
I  only  say,  '  Sir,  your  house  is  on  fire  ; '  whereas  formerly  I  used  to  say, 
'Sir,  the  abode  in  which  you  probably  passed  tbe  delightful  Hays  of 
youth  is  in  a  state  of  inflammation,'  and  everybody  used  to  like  the 
efiect  of  the  two  P's  in  '  probably  passed,'  and  the  two  D's  in  '  delightful 
days.' " 

Reviewing  a  book  entitled  "  The  Other  Side  :  How  it  Struck 
Us,"  by  C.  B.  Perry,  the  London  Examiner  (Oct.  9th,  1879) 
said  : — 

"  It  may  be  English,  but  it  is  penny-a-lining  English,  to  speak  of  a 
waiter  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  as  'resplendent  in  a  white  wai  tcoat.,' 
or  of  an  '  elevated  railroad,'  as  seriously  interfering  '  with  the  amenity 
of  the  streets,'  or  of  boots  as  '  pedal  integuments.'  The  same  author 
speaks  of  a  steamer  as  a  '  white  towering  immensity.'  " 

The  Daily  Telegraph  furnishes  many  illustrations  of  gro- 
tesque and  florid  writing.  If  it  wants  to  tell  us  that  twenty- 
seven  years  is  the  average  of  a  miner's  life,  it  says  : — 

"  The  miner's  average  tenure  of  life  is  a  brief  twenty-seven  summers.1 

Describing  a  procession  of  miners,  a  writer  in  its  columna 
said : — 


ON  SIMPLICITY  IN  STYLE.  48 

'  Two  helmets  toweiir/g  over  their  heads  betokened  that  the  eye  of 
Jie  law  was  up'jii  them." 

He  meant  that  two  policemen  were  present.     Again : — 

"  The  owls  in  the  minster  tower  were  startled  before  sunrise  by  the 
noiee  of  their  [the  miners]  approach,  and  the  rooks  circling  round  the 
battlements  of  the  old  castle  heard  arar  the  shrill  music  of  pipes  and  the 
tingling  of  triangles,  while  the  sky  was  yet  grey  with  the  coming  dawn. 
The  campanile-like  spire  of  the  old  cathedral  peeping  over  the  roofs  of 
houses,  almost  as  ancient  as  itself,  had  a  right  to  inquire  what  the 
world  was  coming  to." 

It  seems  that  there  is  a  part  of  Durham  where  "  cosy  old 
mansions  cherish  a  proud  conservative  element,"  but  on  the 
occasion  of  this  demonstration,  these,  cosy  old  mansions 
"could  not  help  casting  surprised  and  anxious  glances  on 
the  sea  of  people  that  literally  flooded  the  meadow  used  as  a 
cricket  ground.''  The  speakers  were  not  cheered,  or  even 
loudly  cheered,  but  were  "greeted  by  a  storm-wave  of 
billycock  hats,  excited  by  volleys  of  cheers."  The  men  did 
not  walk  in  close  order,  but  "  kept  religiously  together." 
Lord  Shaftesbury  sympathised  with  the  complaints  of  the 
miners,  and  we  are  told  that  "  their  grievances  found  a 
friendly  echo  in  the  philanthropic  breast  of  Lord  Shaftesbury." 

From  an  article  on  "  Ladies  Dresses  "  in  a  recent  issue  of 
the  same  journal,  we  take  the  following  extract : — 

"  Hercules  found  the  ninth  labour  imposed  on  him  one  of  exceptional 
difficulty.  To  wrestle  with  the  Neme  in  lion,  or  to  slay  the  Lernean 
hydra,  to  destroy  the  Erymanthian  boar  or  to  conquer  the  Styuiphalian 
birds  were  works  completely  sympathetic  to  the  nature  of  so  pronounced 
an  athlete  ;  but  when  it  came  to  seizing  the  girdle  of  the  Queen  of  the 
Amazons,  a  certain  amount  of  diplomacy  was  evidently  required  to 
temper  the  power  of  merely  brute  force.  Hippolyte,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, possessed  the  very  girdle,  or  zone,  that  Admete,  daughter  of 
Eurystheus,  hungered  after,  and  matters  became  so  serious  that  the 
:u'd  of  Hercules  was  promptly  invoked." 


44  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

Dean  Alf  >jtd  warned  students  against  adopting  "the 
vitiated  and  pretentious  style,  which  passes  current  in  our 
newspapers,"  and  if  all  journalists  had  the  inflated  style  of  the 
one  just  quoted,  the  Dean's  warning  would  not  have  been 
called  for  In  small  country  newspapers  one  may  frequently 
meet  with  specimens  of  such  debased  style.  Thus,  in 
the  hands  of  the  young  reporter,  "a  fine  lot  of  poultry" 
becomes  "an  interesting  assortment  of  the  feathered  creation ;" 
they  lunched,  or  dined,  becomes,  "they  partook  of  some 
refreshment ;  "  woman  becomes  "  the  weaker  sex  ; "  fire, 
"  the  devouring  element ;"  horse,  "charter,"  anger,  "ire;" 
before,  "  ere ;"  valley,  "vale;"  tobacco,  "the  noxious  weed;" 
Sliakespere,  "  the  bard  of  Avon  ; "  drunk,  "  inebriated,"  or 
"intoxicated;"  r«  fair  lady,  or  a  pretty  woman,  is  described 
as  "  a  female  possessing  considerable  personal  attractions  ; " 
the  young,  "the  juvenile  portion  of  humanity." 

VAGUE  LANGUAGE  is  A  VIOLATION  OF  SIMPLICITY.  The 
meaning  of  some  authors  who  use  long  sentences  and  un- 
common words,  cannot  be  understood.  The  following  extract, 
taken  from  a  work  on  "  Charlotte  Bronte,"  is  written  by 
Mr.  Swinburne: — 

"The  crudest  as  the  most  refined  pedantry  of  semi-science,  tricked 
o  it  at  second-hand  in  the  freshest  or  the  stalest  phrases  of  archaic 
schoolmen,  or  neologic  lectir-es  that  may  be  swept  up  from  the  dustiest 
boards,  or  picked  up  under  the  daintiest  platform,  irradiated  or 
obfuscated  by  new  lamps  or  old,  will  avail  nothing  to  guide  any  possible 
seeker  on  the  pith  towards  an  exploration  by  physical  analysis,  or 
metaphysical  synthesis  of  the  source  or  the  process,  the  fountain  or 
the  channel  or  the  issue,  of  this  subtle  aud  infallible  fu;  ce  of  nature, 
the  progress  from  the  root  into  the  fruit  of  this  direct  creative 
instinct." 

We  have  read  this  sentence  over  several  times,  but 
cannot  understand  what  the  author  means.  A  reviewer  of 
the  book  suggests  that  this  cascade  of  vocables  contains  just 


ON  SIMPLICITY  IN  STYLE.  45 

one  proposition,  important  but  simple,  namely,  that  the 
creative  genius  of  the  true  artist  is  inexplicable  in  words. 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  language  is  sometimes  unintelligible. 
He  demies  evolution  as  a  change  from  an  indefinite,  incoher- 
ent, homogeneity,  to  a  definite,  coherent,  heterogeneity, 
through  continuous  "differentiations  and  integrations," 
•which,  interpreted  into  plain  English  by  Mr.  Kirkman,  the 
mathematician,  means : — 

"  Evolution  is  a  change  from  a  nohowish,  untalkaboutable  all -alike- 
ness,  to  a  somehowish,  and  in-general-talkaboutable  not-all-alikencss,  by 
continuous  something-elsefications  and  sticktogetberations." 

As  a  clever  travesty  on  the  above  ill-sounding  mystifica- 
tion of  Mr.  Herbert  tpencer,  which  conceals  the  meaning  it 
ought  to  express ;  take  Mr.  Kirkman's  "  Formula  of 
Universal  Change  "  : — 

"Change  is  a  perichoretical  synechy  of  pamparalagmatic  and 
porroteroporenmatical  differentiations  and  integrations." 

The  importance  of  using  plain  English  words  may  be 
illustrated  by  the  following  incident : — 

•'  When  Franklin  was  a  boy  he  thought  it  fine  to  use  long  words,  and 
one  day  told  his  father  that  he  had  swallowed  eome  acephalous  molluscs, 
which  so  alarmed  hin,  that  he  shrieked  for  help,  The  mother  caine  in 
•with  warm  water,  and  they  forced  half-a-gallon  down  Benjamin's  throat 
with  the  garden  pump,  then  held  him  upside  down,  the  father  saying, 
"  If  we  don't  get  those  things  out  of  Benny,  he'll  be  poisoned 
sure."  When  Benjamin  was  allowed  to  get  his  breath,  he  explained 
that  the  articles  referred  to  were  oysters.  His  father  was  so  enraged, 
that  he  beat  him  for  an  hour,  for  frightening  the  family.  Franklin 
never  afterwards  usel  a  word  of  two  syllables  when  one  would  do." 


46  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

IX.— ON   BREVITY   IN   STYLE. 

This  quality  consists  in  using  the  fewest  words  neoessnry 
for  the  adequate  expression  of  ideas.  Dr.  Angus  considers 
it  the  first  quality  of  style.  It  is  certainly  a  leading  one, 
for  needless  words  diminish  the  strength  of  a  sentence. 

<%  Concise  sentences,"  says  Bacon,  "  lik«  darta,  fly  abroad  and  make 
impressions,  while  *ong  discourses  are  flat  things,  «uid  not  regarded.'' 

Conciseness  consists  in  the  avoidance  of  needless  words, 
as  in  the  following  examples  : — 

"Less  capacity  is  required  for  this  business,  but  more  time  is 
necessary." 

The  words  in  italics  are  superfluous,  and  the  sentence  would 
read  better  inverted  thus  : — 

"  More  time  is  required  for  this  business,  but  less  capacity." 

Advertisements  frequently  appear  in  the  newspapers 
announcing  the  death  of  a  widow,  who  is  described  as  "  relict 
of  the  late."  The  last  two  words  are  superfluous,  because 
relict  means  a  woman  whose  husband  is  dead. 

''  There  is  exceedingly  little  information  obtainable  about  Dryden's 
youth." — 0.  Sainftbury. 

Better  :— 

"  Very  little  is  known  of  Dryden's  youth." 

Again  : — 

"  There  is  nothing  which  promotes  a  man's  welfare  better  than  good 
manners." 

The  sentence  is  strengthened  by  the  omission  of  the  words 
in  italics. 

BBEVITY  is  VIOLATED  BY  CIRCUMLOCUTION.     Thus: — 

"  Pope  professed  to  have  learned  his  poetry  from  Dryden,  whom, 
whenever  an  oppoitunity  presented  itself,  he  praised  through  the  whol*» 


ON   BEEVITY   IN  STYLE.  47 

period  of  his  existence  with  a  liberality  which  never  ^  iried  ;  and  per- 
haps his  character  may  receive  some  illustration,  if  a  comparison  bo 
instituted  between  him  and  the  man  whose  pupil  he  was." 

The  substance  of  this  sentence  has  been  condensed  by 
Professor  Dalgleish  as  follows: — 

"  Pope  professed  himself  the  pupil  of  Dryden,  whom,  on  every  oppor- 
tunity he  praised  through  his  whole  life  with  unvaried  liberality  ;  and 
perhaps  his  character  may  be  illustrated  by  comparing  him  with  his 
master." 

Another  authority  has  put  the  ideas  in  shorter  form  : — 
"  Pope  professed  himself  the  pupil  of  Dryden  whom  he  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity of  praising  ;  and  his  character  is  illustrated  by  comparison  with 
his  master.'' 

Nothing  material  is  lost  by  judicious  shortening.  Strength 
may  also  be  gained  by  using  an  adverb  for  an  adverbial  phrase, 
as  in  the  command  "Do  it  instantly,"  for  "Do  it  without 
losing  a  single  moment."  A  well  known  author,  "A.K.H.B.," 
has  a  trick  of  repeating  the  last  words  of  a  sentence,  thus: 
"  It  is  all  very  strange,  very  strange"  "  It  is  even  so,  even  so." 
Nothing  is  gained  by  repetition,  unless  it  be  a  reputation  for 
garrulous  absurdity.  Condensation  is  a  valuable  art,  skill 
in  which  can  only  be  attained  by  constant  exercise,  and  by 
habits  of  close  observation.  The  English  Civil  Service  Com- 
missioners make  a  point  of  examining  candidates  in  what  they 
call  precis-writing,  by  which  is  meant  the  production  of  an 
epitome,  summary,  outline,  or  abridgment  of  an  official  letter 
or  paper.  Mr.  Cosmo  Monkhouse,  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
tells  us  that  many  competitors,  owing  to  a  want  of  natural  apt- 
itude, or  defective  education,  are  incapable  of  making  a  short 
and  accurate  abstract  of  even  a  simple  correspondence,  though 
they  may  be  termed  "  fairly  educated  "  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  word.  As  the  art  of  precis-writing  is  a  useful  one  in 
all  commercial  pursuits,  students  cannot  be  too  painstaking  in 


48  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

their  efforts  to  acquire  it.  As  a  mental  exercise,  also,  it  is 
invaluable.  It  compels  the  student  to  understand  the  sub- 
ject thoroughly  before  he  can  reproduce  the  substance  of  it 
briefly  and  clearly  in  his  own  words. 

For  an  example  of  verbosity,  we  go  to  Dr.  Johnson.  His 
letters  from  the  Hebrides  to  Mrs.  Thrale  are,  Macaxilay  said, 
the  original  of  that  work  of  which  the  "  Journey  to  the 
Hebrides"  is  the  translation  ;  and  it  is  amusing  to  compaie 
the  two  versions.  In  his  letters  he  wrote : — 

"  When  we  were  taken  upstairs,  a  dirty  fellow  bounced  out  of  a  bed 
on  which  one  of  us  was  to  lie." 

He  did  not  think  this  simple  statement  good  enough  for 
bis  book,  but  wrote  in  this  pompous  style  : — 

"  Out  of  the  bed  on  which  we  were  to  repose,  there  started  up  at  our 
entrance  a  man  as  black  as  a  Cyclops  from  a  forge." 

Dr.  Johnson  has  had  many  followers,  some  of  wliom  have 
tried  to  "  throw  light  on  dark  passages  of  the  Sacred  Book 
itself  by  re-writing  them  in  their  own  language.  Thus,  one 
author  translates  the  verse  : — 

"  In  the  beginning  was  the  word,  and  the  word  was  with  God,  and 
the  word  was  God," 

Into — 

"  From  all  eternity  was  the  Divine  Ego,  and  the  Divine  Ego  was 
present  to  the  cognitions  of  the  absolute  Divine  inind,  and  the  very 
Eternal  Ego  was  Deity's  own  cognised  self." 

For— 

"  All  things  were  made  by  Him,  and  without  Him  was  not  anything 
made  that  was  made," 
This  solemn  trifler  substitutes  : — 

"  All  other  sub-esses  were  legally  and  actually  synthesitised  by  ana 
through  tho  Divine  Ego  ;  and  without  his  act  and  deed  was  not  any 
eub-esse  conceived  that  was  conceived." 

A  similar  instance  of  the  preference  for  long  words  over 


OTX  PURITY  IN  STYLE.  49 

short  ones  is  recorded  by  Mr.  Oliphant,*  who  says  that 
when  Canning  wrote  the  inscription  graven  on  Pitt's  monu- 
ment in  the  London  Guildhall,  an  alderman  felt  much 
disgusted  at  the  simple  phrase,  "  He  died  poor,"  and  wished 
to  substitute,  "  He  expired  in  indigent  circumstances."  Mr. 
Oliphant  asks,  "Could  the  difference  between  the  scholar- 
like  and  the  vulgar  be  more  happily  marked  V 

There  are  cases,  however,  where  a  use  of  circumlocution 
would  be  parmissible.  For  instance,  to  tell  a  man  that,  his 
statement  was  not  consistent  with  truth,  would  be  less 
offensive  than  to  tell  him  that  he  lied.  This  softened  tone 
of  expression  is  called  a  euphemism. 


X.— ON  PURITY  IN   STYLE. 

Purity  of  language  is  said  to  be  regulated  by  the  laws 
of  taste;  but  the  standard  of  taste  differs  among  the  best 
writers.  As  a  rule,  however,  we  may  safely  take  the  practice 
of  the  majority  of  the  best  authors  as  our  standard  of  taste. 
In  order  to  write  with  purity,  we  must 

1.  Avoid  vulgarity  and  slang. — Taste  continually  alters 
in  reference  to  vulgarisms.  The  Edinburgh  Review  of 
1830  condemns  wherein  and  hereby,  which  are  now  accepted 
as  good  English  Among  words  and  phrases  which  are 
really  vulgar  may  be  mentioned  :  higgledy-piggledy,  slap- 
dash, bang-up,  transmogrify,  bamboozle,  topsy-turvy,  pell- 
mell,  hurly-burly,  cut-up,  all-serene,  stunning,  "  it  rains  cats 
and  dogs."  A' great  deal  of  slang  is  used  by  writers  of  the 
lower  class  of  novels,  and  occasionally  it  may  be  found  in 

*  "  Sources  of  Standard  English." 


50  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

irorks  of  solid  character.  Thus,  the  author  of  a  biography 
of  the  "  Founders  of  the  Iron  Trade "  sajs  of  the  late  Mr. 
Joseph  Pease  : — 

"  He  never  approved  of  half  measures.  Vulgarly  speaking,  he  went 
in  for  the  whole  hog  or  none" 

In  his  biography  of  Drjden,  Mr.  G.  Saintsbury  says  : — 

"This,  too,  was  something  of  a  pot-boiler.  ...  This  poeiu 
possesses  a  very  fair  capacity  foi  holding  water." 

Here  is  another  instance  of  vulgar  language  : — 

"At  Washington  Chamber  of  Representatives,  women  hurriedly 
take  notes  of  what  is  passing,  sitting  cheek  by  jowl  with  the  male 
members  of  the  craft,  between  whom  and  themselves  the  best  feeling 
exists." —  Cassett's  Magazine. 

Among  university  students,  also,  slang  is  much  used  ;  but 
it  is  avoided  by.  all  good  writers  and  speakers,  who  agree 
with  Swift  that  "to  introduce  and  multiply  cant  words  is 
the  most  ruinous  corruption  in  any  language." 

2.  Avoid  the  general  use  of  technical  terms. — Words 
relating  to  the  sciences,  or  the  arts,  are  seldom  understood 
by  the  general  reader,  and  should  not  be  used  unless 
absolutely  necessary.  From  a  desire  to  show  off  their 
learning,  or  from  their  training,  young  medical  men  often 
use  technical  language.  Thus,  a  doctor  is  reported  to  have 
described  a  black  eye  in  the  following  terms : — 

"  I  found  on  examination  a  contusion  of  the  integuments  under  the 
orbit,  with  extravasation  of  blood  and  ecchymosis  of  the  surrounding 
cellular  tissue,  which  was  in  a  tumefied  state,  with  abrasion  of  the 
cuticle."  . 

"  This  example  brings  to  my  mind,"  remarks  a  medical 
writer,  "  a  well-timed  rebuke  that  I  myself  received  from  a 
iudge  in  a  supreme  court  nearly  twenty  years  ago." 


ON  PURITY  IN  STTLE.  51 

"  I  was  giving  surgical  evidence  in  a  criminal  case  and  in  doing  so 
indulged  somewhat  freely  in  medical  technicalities  while  describing  the 
nature  of  the  injuries  the  plaintiff  had  received.  The  ju^ge  addressed 
me  as  follows  :  '  Sir,  you  will  be  good  enough  to  speak  in  a  language 
which  the  jury  may  be  able  to  understand,  and  leave  technicalities  for 
your  surgery  or  dissecting  room.'  It  is  needless  for  me  to  describe  my 
feelings  on  the  occasion  ;  suffice  it  to  say  I  have  given  evidence  in 
criminal  cases  scores  of  times  since,  but  never  forgot  this  circumstance." 

Doubtless,  it  is  not  always  possible  to  avoid  technicalities  ; 
indeed,  they  are  valuable  where  they  conduce  to  brevity  and 
where  they  are  understood,  but  their  use  should  be  confined 
to  the  initiated  In  language  addressed  to  general  readers 
technical  words  should  be  avoided. 

3.  Avoid  the  use  of  foreign  words. — Young  writers  think 
the  use  of  foreign  words  indicative  of  the  possession  of 
extensive  learning.  Even  Dr.  Freeman,  the  historian,  held 
the  same  opinion  when  he  first  began  to  write,  but  in  the 
preface  to  some  recently-published  essays  he  says : — 

"In  almost  every  page  I  have  found  it  easy  to  put  some  plain 
English  words,  about  whose  meaning  there  can  be  no  doubt,  instead  of 
those  needless  French  and  Latin  words  which  are  thought  to  add 
dignity  to  style,  but  which,  in  truth,  only  add  vagueness.  I  am  in  no 
way  ashamed  to  find  that  I  can  write  purer  and  clearer  English  now 
than  I  did  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  back,  and  I  think  it  well  to  mention 
the  fact  for  the  encouragement  of  younger  writers.  The  common 
temptation  of  beginners  is  to  work  in  what  they  think  a  more  elevated 
fashion.  It  needs  some  years  of  practice  before  a  man  fully  takes  in 
the  truth  that  for  real  clearness  there  is  nothing  like  the  old  English 
speech  of  our  forefathers." 

The  use  of  foreign  words  is  admissible  only  when  English 
equivalents  cannot  be  found.  To  a  young  writer  who  had 
offered  him  an  article,  the  late  Mr.  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
the  American  editor  and  poet,  wrote  :  — 

"  I  observe  that  you  have  used  sever.il  French  expressions  in  your 
letter.  I  think  if  you  will  study  the  English  language,  that  you  will 


52  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

find  it  capable  of  expressing  all  the  ideas  that  you  may  have.  I  have 
always  found  it  so,  and  in  all  that  I  have  written,  I  do  not  recall  an 
instance  where  I  was  tempted  to  use  a  foreign  word,  but  that,  in  search- 
ing, I  have  found  a  better  one  in  my  own  language." 

4.  Do  not  coin  'words. — The  Americans  are  often  accused 
of  coining  words;  but  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  contends  that 
they  never  make  a  new  word  until  they  have  made  a  new 
thing  or  a  new  thought.  Many  of  the  words  considered  new 
by  us  are  really  old  English  word*,  which  the  Americans 
have  preserved  for  us,  while  we  have  been  coining  new 
ones,  which  have  displaced  the  old.  Writers  have  been 
warned  against  using  collide,  interviewed,,  valfdicted,  which 
have  been  called  barbarisms.  Dr.  Murray  tells  us  that  the 
word  collide  has  been  in  regular  English  use  since  1621, 
when  it  was  first  used  by  Burton,  in  his  "Anatomy  of 
Melancholy."  It  has  also  been,  used  by  Dryden,  Charlotte 
Bronte,  Carlyle,  and  Grote.  Apart  from  its  long  and  honour- 
able history,  it  is  surely  briefer  to  say  that  a  train  "  collided." 
instead  of  "came  into  collision."  Valedicted  is  occasionally 
used  in  English  religious  journals,  and  interviewed  expresses 
a  new  idea  in  journalism.  In  the  past,  as  in  the  present,  a 
protest  was  frequently  made  against  the  use  of  new  words. 
The  word  survey  was  objected  to  by  a  writer  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  He  would,  Dr.  Murray  thinks,  have  been  extremely 
disgusted  had  he  foreseen  the  time  when  people  would  sing — 

"  When  i  survey  the  wondrous  cross." 

which  would  seem  as  stilted  then  as  "  when  Gabriel  inter- 
vieived  Mary  "  would  be  now.  As  a  general  mle,  however, 
words  contrary  to  analogy,  or  without  absolute  necessity, 
should  not  be  coined ;  but  the  invention  of  new  words  is 
sometimes  a  necessity,  and  a  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Herald  has  recently  attempted  to  supply  an  undoubted  want. 
He  says  :  "The  frequent  necessity  for  the  use  of  the  expres- 


ON  PURITY  IN  STYLE.  53 

sions,  'telephonic  communication,'  or  'message  by  telephone,' 
which  are  bo~.li  long  and  cumbersome,  and  the  want  of  any 
one  word  in  tho  English  language  to  express  this  meaning, 
suggests  the  propriety  of  coining  a  new  word  to  signify 
telephonic  message  or  communication.  A  word  formed  in 
accordance  with  the  rules  of  etymology  and  fully  conveying 
the  required  meaning  would  be  '  telelogue ' — a  speaking  from 
a  distance."  The  Times  has  already  adopted  the  word. 
The  young  writer  should  use  words  already  in  existence 
before  making  new  ones  which  may  not  be  so  good.  He 
should  be  neither  the  first  to  catch  up  the  new,  nor  tho 
last  to  let  go  the  old. 

5.  Avoid  inconsistent  words. 

"  I  had  liked  to  have  gotten  one  or  two  broken  heads  for  my  im- 
pertinence."— Sioift. 

The  question  arises,  how  many  heads  had  he  ?  The  sentence 
should  have  been  : — 

"  I  was  once  or  twice  in  danger  of  having  my  head  broken." 
Alexander  Smith  wrote  : — 

"The  village  stands  far  inland;  and  the  streams  that  trot  through 
the  soft  green  valleys  all  about  have  as  little  knowledge  of  the  sea,  as 
the  three-years'  ch  Id  of  the  storms  and  passions  of  manhood." 

Whoever  saw  a  stream  trot  ?     Trot  should  be  meander. 

6.  Avoid   quaintness   of  expression.      As   an   example    of 
affectation,  we  quote  an  extract  from  A.K.H. B.  : — 

"Show  us  this  life  to  come — where-away  lies  it?  What-like  life 
is  it !  What-like  life  do  they  live  there  ?  " 

Goldsmith,  though  so  chaste  in  his  writings,  is  said  to  have 
been  sirgularly  careless  and  inaccurate  in  conversation.  He 
used  to  say,  "  This  is  as  good  a  guinea  as  was  ever  born," 
instead  of  coined. 


54  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

XL— ON   ENERGY   IN   STYLE. 

Energy  in  style  is  opposed  to  feebleness,  and  implies  the 
power  of  so  placing  words  as  to  produce,  not  only  clearness, 
but  impressiveness.  It  may  be  aided — 

(a)  By  Inversion.     The  statement — 

"  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians," 

is  stronger  than  when  expressed- by  the  customary  order  of 
construction — 

"  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  is  great." 
Again  : — 

"  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none/' 

is  stronger  than 

"  I  have  no  silver  and  no  gold." 

So,  also,  in  the  following  example  : — 

"  The  pavements  we  walk  upon,  the  coals  in  our  grates — how  many 
nrilleniuuis  old  are  they  ?  The  pebble  you  kick  aside  with  your  foot — 
how  many  generations  will  it  outlast  ? " — Dr.  Madaren. 

The  language  is  more  impressive  than  it  would  be  if 
written  in  the  ordinary  way.  Sometimes  an  emphatic  word 
is  put  first,  as — 

"Sunk  are  thy  towers  in  shapeless  ruin  all." — Goldsmith. 
"Great  is  the  power  of  eloquence." — Sterne. 

which  produces  greater  animation  than  if  written  in  the 
common  way — 

"  All  thy  towers  are  sunk  in  shapeless  ruin." 
"The  power  of  eloquence  is  great." 

Mr.  Davenport  Adams  quotes  the  following  extract  from 
Kinglake  : — 

"  Stopped  at  once  by  this  ready  manoeuvre,  and  the  fire  that  it  brought 
on  their  flank,  the  horsemen  wheeled  again  and  retreated." 


ON  ENERGY  IN  STYLE.  55 

This  form,  he  considers,  is  much  more  energetic  than  the 
strict  grammatical  sequence — 

"  The  horsemen,  stopped  at  once  by  this  ready  manoeuvre  and  the 
fire  that  it  brought  on  their  flank,  wheeled  again  to  their  left  and 
retreated." 

Sometimes  an  emphatic  phrase  is  put  first.     Thus  : —  . 

"  Your  fathers,  where  are  they  ?  and  the  prophets,  do  they  live  for 
ever  ? " 

is  more  effective  than 
"  Where  arc  your  fathers  ?  and  do  the  prophets  live  for  ever  ? " 

Inversion  should,  however,  be  sparingly  used,  for,  as  a 
rule,  the  common  order  of  expression  is  best.  Nothing  is 
gained  by  inversion  in  the  following  sentence  : — 

"  Abundant  evidence  h  ive  we  that  Carlyle  regards  Romanism,  the 
Papacy,  as  the  great  nuisance  and  pest  of  Europe  in  these  later  ages." — 
Paxton  Hood. 

(6)  By  Antithesis. — By  contrasting  one  thing  with  some- 
thing opposite,  a  pleasing  effect  is  produced,  and  an  idea 
comes  out  more  clearly.  The  Bible  affords  many  illus- 
trations : — 

"The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  not  man  for  the  Sabfeath." 

"  The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed  ;  but  the  name  of  the  wicked 

shall  rot." 

"  The  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursueth,  but  the  righteous  are  bold 

aa  a  lion." 

Goldsmith  supplies  us  with  an  excellent  example  : — 

"  Contrasted  faults  through  all  their  manners  reign  ; 
•     Though  poor,  luxurious  ;  though  submissive,  vain  ; 
Though  grave,  yet  trifling  ;  zealous,  yet  untrue  ; 
And  e'en  in  penance,  planning  sins  anew." 

Dr.  Johnson  was  great  at  antithesis ;  of  Jonas  Hanway, 
'\lio  was  fond  of  showing  himself,  he  said  : — 


56  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

"  He  acquired  some  reputation  in  travelling  abroad,  but  lost  it  in 
travelling  at  home." 

Of  a  dull  fop,  he  said  : — 

"  That  man  possesses  but  one  idea,  and  that  is  a  wrong  one." 
Dr.  Morell  quotes  the  following  examples  from  Macaulay  : — 

"The  Puritans  hated  bear-baiting,  not  because  it  gave  pain  to  the 
bears,  but  because  it  gave  pleasure  to  the  spectators." 

"  If  Boswell  had  not  been  a  great  fool,  he  would  never  have  been  a 
great  writer." 

(c)  By  Exclamation,  which  is  a  figure  employed  to  express 
strong  emotion,  as  : — 

"  What  a  piece  of  work  is  man  !  How  noble  in  reason,  in  form  how 
moving  !  How  express  and  admirable  !  In  action,  how  like  an  angel ! 
In  apprehension,  how  like  a  god  !  The  beauty  of  the  world  !  The 
paragon  of  animals  !  " — Shakespeare. 

"  0  eloquent,  just,  and  mighty  death  !  " — Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 

"  0  evening  sun  of  July,  how,  at  this  hour,  thy  beams  fall  slant  on 
reapers  amid  peaceful  woody  fields !  On  old  women  spinning  in 
cottages  !  On  ships  far  out  iu  tho  silent  main  !  On  balls  at  the 
Orangerie,  at  Versailles,  whero  high-rouged  dames  of  the  Palace  are 
even  now  dancing  with  double- jacketed  Hussar  officers  ;  and  also  on 
this  roaring  Hell-porch  of  a  Hotel  de  Ville  ! " — Carlyle. 

(d)  By  Interrogation. — To  rouse  tl>e  attention  of  readers, 
or  of  hearers,  this  figure  is  probably  the  best  which  could  be 
used.     It  is  a  favourite  method  with  the  earnest  writer  and 
the  preacher  to  put  a  searching  question,  and  leave  those 
he  addresses  to  supply  the  answer.     Dr.  Maclaren  uses   it 
frequently.     In  a  sermon  on  "  The  Hiding  Place,"  occur  the 
following  questions : — 

"  Have  we  found  what  we  seek  among  men  ?  Have  we  ever  known 
amongst  the  dearest  that  we  have  clung  to,  one  arm  that  was  strong 
enough  to  keep  us  in  all  danger  ?  Has  there  ever  been  a  human  love 
t'-)  which  we  can  run  with  the  security  that  there  is  &  strong  tower 
•  Sere  ro  evil  can  touch  us  ? " 


ON  ENERGY  IN  STYLE.  57 

Again  : — 

"  What  do  we,  as  a  nation,  care  about  books  ?  How  much  do  you 
think  we  spend  altogether  on  our  libraries,  public  or  private,  as  com- 
pared with  what  we  spend  on  our  horses  ? " — Ruskin. 

(e)  By  Ellipsis,  or  the  omission  of  one  or  more  words 
obviously  understood  ;  thus  : — 

"  Heading  makes  a  full  man,  conference  a  ready  man,  and  writing  an 
exact  man." — Bacon. 

Strength  is  gained  by  omitting  the  verb. 

(f)  By  Simile,  in  which  two  things  having  some  point,  or 
points,  of  resemblance,  are  compared  : — 

"  He  shall  be  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of  water."  "  He  is  like 
a  lion  in  the  fight." 

In  the  latter  case  the  writer  might  have  said  that  he  is  a 
very  brave  soldier,  or  that  he  fought  fiercely  ;  but  both  these 
impressions  are  common  place  as  compared  with  the  simile, 
by  means  of  which  the  idea  of  bravery  is  brought  more 
vivedly  before  the  mind.  Again  :-- 

"  The  ungodly  are  like  the  chaff  which  the  wind  driveth  away." 
"  I  am  not  content  to  pass  away  like  a  weaver's  shuttle." — Charles 
Lamb. 

(g)  By  Metaphor,  which  is  a  figure  expressed  in  a  single 
word,  for  example  : — 

"  The  man  is  a  fox"  i.e.,  he  has  a  sly,  cunning  nature. 
The  detectives  of  Paris  are  hidden  from  public  view,  and 
have  been  described  as 

"  The  dogs  who  hunt  out  and  point  where  the  game  is  to  be  found." 
Butler,  in  his   "  Hudibras,"  wishes  to  call  up  before  us  the 
pulpit  of  the  Pu-ritans,  and  described  it  thus  : — 
"And  pulpit,  drum  ecc'esiastic, 
Was  beat  with  fist  instead  of  a  stick." 

(h)  By  A'legory,  a  figure  representing  language  which  lias 
another  meaning  than  the  literal  one.      In  the  following 


58  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

beautiful  example  from  the  80th  Psalm,  the  people  of  Israel 
are  represented  under  the  symbol  of  a  vine  :  — 

"  Tnou  hast  brought  a  vine  out  of  Egypt ;  thou  h-tst  cast  out  the 
heathen,  and  planted  it.  Thou  preparedst  room  before  it,  and  did 
cause  it  to  take  deep  root,  and  it  filled  the  laud.  The  hills  were 
covered  with  the  shadows  of  it,  and  the  boughs  thereof  were  like  the 
goodly  cedars.  She  sent  out  her  houghs  unto  the  sea,  and  her  branche-i 
unto  the  river.  Why  hast  thou  then  broken  down  her  hedges,  so  that 
all  they  which  pass  by  the  way,  do  pluck  her  ?  The  boar  out  of  the 
wood  djth  waste  it,  and  the  wild  beast  of  the  field  doth  devour  it." 

(i)  By  Personification,  the  figure  by  which  animals  and 
inanimate  objects  are  spoken  of  as  if  they  were  human 
beings.  It  is  used  frequently  in  the  book  of  Psalms,  thus  : — 

"The  mountains  and  the   Kills  shall    break   forth    before  you   into 
tinging,  and  all  the  trees  of  the  field  shall  clap  their  hands." 
"  See,  winter  cames  to  rule  the  varied  year, 
Sullen  and  sad,  with  all  his  rising  traiii.  — Thomson. 

(k)  By  Synecdoche,  a  figure  which  puts  a  part  for  the 
whole.  For  a  good  example,  we  are  indebted  to  Charles 
Dickens.  That  lively  creation  of  his,  Sam  Weller — boots  at 
the  White  Hart,  in  London — naturally  considers  that  a  man's 
boots  are  the  most  important  part  of  his  belongings.  Hence 
when  asked  who  there  was  in  the  house,  he  replies: — 

"  There's1  a  wooden  leg  in  number  six  ;  there's  a  pair  of  Hessians  in 
thirteen  ;  there's  two  pair  of  halves  in  the  commercial ;  there's  these 
here  painted  tops  in  the  snuggery,  inside  the  bar,  and  five  more  tops  in 
the  coffee  room." 

(/)  By  Metonymy,  by  which  one  thing  is  put  for  another, 

thus  : — 

"  The  whole  city  came  forth  to  meet  him." 

Here  city  is  put  for  inhabitants. 

"  I  have  been  reading  Shakespeare." 

This  means  that  he  has  been  reading  the  works  of  Shakes 
neare. 


PARTS  OF  SPEECH.  59 

XII.— PARTS  OF  SPEECH. 

The  following  illustrations  of  the  use  of  the  parts  of 
speech  will  be  helpful  : — 

The  Article. — Frequent  errors  are  made  in  the  use  of 
the  indefinite  article.  The  rule  is  seldom  understood.  A 
becomes  an  before  the  vowels  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  and  also  when  the 
h  is  silent,  but  not  before  w,  y,  or  words  in  which  the 
initial  vowel  has  the  sound  of  y.  In  this  case,  a  is  generally 
used.  Observe  its  use  in  the  following  sentences  where  the 
aspirate  occurs : — 

"  To  listen  to  Mr.  Morley  when  he  speaks  as  an  historian  and  critic  is 
always  a  pleasure." — Quarterly  Review, 

"  He  is  an  historian,  not  a  critic." — Trench. 

On  the  other  hand,  Macaulay  uses  a  thus : — 
"  That  a  historian  should  not  record  trifles  is  perfectly  true." 
A  is  invariably  used  before  the  vowels  w  and  y.     As  "  A 
well  of  water."     "  He  heard  a  yell."     It  is  correctly  used 
before   u   when   y   is   understood.        As    "  a   (y)unit,"     "  a 
(y)union,"  "  a  (y)use,"  li  a  (y)European."     Not  an  unit,  an 
union,  an  use,  an  European,  an  one. 

An  is  incorrectly  used  for  a  by  Dickens  : — 

"  You  remember  my  saying  to  you  how  curious  I  thought  it  that 
'Robinson  Crusoe'  should  be  the  only  instance  of  an  universally 
popular  book  that  could  make  no  one  laugh  and  could  make  no  one  cry." 

In  conversation  the  definite  article  has  a  long,  open  sound, 
as  the  (thee)  before  the  vowels  a,  e,  i,  o,  u.  For  example  : 
"The  ass,"  "the  egg,"  "  the  ice,"  "the  owl,"  "the  under- 
standing " ;  and  short  before  w  and  y  and  words  beginning 
with  a  consonant.  Thus:  "The  well  of  water,"  "the  yell 
of  the  hysena."  The  correct  use  of  the  article  in  writing 
and  speaking  constitutes  one  of  those  niceties  of  distinction 
BO  characteristic  of  the  English  language. 


60  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

The  Adverb. — Adverbs  should  be  placed  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  words  they  are  intended  to  qualify.  Rather 
is  frequently  misplaced.  Archbishop  Trench,  in  his  "  English 
Past  and  Present,"  writes  : — 

"  It  rather  modified  the  structure  of  our  sentences  than  the  elements 
of  our  vocabulary." 

The  sentence  should  have  been  written  : — 

"  It  modified  the  structure  of  our  sentences  rather  than  the  elements 
of  our  vocabulary." 

Of  Dr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Leslie  Stephens  writes  : — 

"  So  far  as  his  mode  of  teaching  goes,  he  is  rather  a  disciple  of 
Socrates  than  of  St.  Paul  or  Wesley." 

The  sentence  should  have  been  written : — 

"  So  far  as  his  mode  of  teaching  goes  he  is  a  disciple  of  Socrates 
rather  than  of  St.  Paul  or  Wesley." 

From  the  London  Examiner  we  take  the  following  sen 
tence  : — 

"  That  the  great  mass  of  our  painters  are  poorly  educated  in  tne 
technical  laws  of  their  craft  is  the  fault  rather  of  English  art  institu- 
tions than  of  English  artists." 

The  sentence  should  have  been  written: — 

"That  the  great  mass  of  our  painters  are  poorly  educated  in  the 
technical  laws  of  their  craft  is  the  fault  of  English  art  institutions 
rather  than  of  English  artists." 

Only  :— 

"  It  will  be  only  necessary  for  the  British  fleet  to  ent^r  the  Bosphorus 
when  the  Russians  appear  before  the  gates  of  the  capital." 

The  sentence  would  be  better  written :— *• 

"It  will  be  necessary  for  the  British  fleet  to  enter  the  Bosphorus 
only  when  the  Russians  appear  before  the  gates  of  the  capital." 

A^ain : — 

"  His  efforts  were  confined  only  to  remonstrance  and  exhortation." 


•  PAETS   OP   SPEECH.  51 

Should  be : — 

"His  efforts  were  confined  to  remonstrance  and  exhortation  only." 

Neither  is  frequently  used  for  iione,  thus  : — 

"  Neither  of  the  prisoners  has  been  visited  since  Saturday." — Daily 
News. 

This  means  that  neither  one  of  two  prisoners  has  been 
visited.  As  there  were  four  prisoners,  the  writer  should  have 
used  "none"  for  "neither." 

Alike :— 

"  WLiuh  alike  we  and  the  author  consider  the  best  strain  in  the  whole 
"  Life  Drama." — Rev,  George  Gilfillan. 

"  Alike  "  refers  to  "  we  and  the  author,"  and  should  follow 
«  author." 

Not  only.  When  "  not  only "  precedes  "  but  also,  see 
that  each  is  followea  by  the  some  part  of  speech,  as  in  the 
following  case : 

"  He  not  only  gr  ve  me  a  grammar,  but  also  lent  me  a  dictionary." 

The  Adjective. — Great  carelessness  is  displayed  by  many 
writers  and  speakers  ia  the  indiscriminate  use  of  the  degrees 
of  adjectives.  When  two  things  are  compared,  the  compara- 
tive form  should  be  used.  This  rule  is  violated  in  the 
following  instance  : — 

"  Of  two  forms  of  the  same  word,  use  the  fittest." — Dr.  Morell. 

"Fittest"  should  be  "fitter." 

The  superlative  is  correctly  used  in  the  following  instance  : 
"  He  was  the  gieatest  coward  of  the  three." 

The  nominative  and  the  verb  should  agree  in  number. 

"  The  whole  number  is  divided  into  two  classes,  the  first  class  and 
the  last  class.  To  the  former  of  these  belong  three ;  to  the  latter  one." — 
Dean  A I  ford. 

The  verb  should  have  been  repented  in  its  proper  number 


62  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

after  its  respective  nominatives.     The  sentence  should  have 
been  written  thus  : — 

"The  whole  number  is  divided  into  two  classes,  the  first  class  and 
the  second  class.  To  the  former  of  these  belong  three,  to  the  latter 
belongs  one." 

Dean  Alford  also  wrote  : — 

"Abnormal  is  one  of  those  words  which  has  come  in  to  supply  a  want 
in  the  precise  statements  of  science." 

"  Has  "  should  be  "  have  "  to  agree  with  its  nominative. 
Here  is  another  confused  sentence  : — 

"  Discussion  on  the  vexed  questions  connected  with  baptism,  both  as 
to  its  subject,  and  its  mode  of  administration,  are  not  very  profitable, 
and  the  seldomer  they  arise  the  better." 

As  "  discussion  "  is  the  subject,  and  is  singular  in  number, 
the  verbs  and  the  pronoun  should  also  be  singular. 

Nouns  and  Pronouns.. — The  relation  between  nouns  and 
pronouns  is  a  great  stumbling  block  to  many  writers.  The 
following  sentence  occurs  in  Hallam's  "  Literature  of 
Europe"  : — 

"  No  one  as  yet  had  exhibited  the  structure  of  the  human  kiduevs 
Vesalius  having  only  examined  them  in  dogs." 

The  sentence  should  have  been  : — 

"  No  one  had  as  yet  exhibited  the  structure  of  the  kidneys  in  human 
teings,  Vesalius  Laving  examined  such  organs  in  dogs  only." 

Professor  A.  W.  Ward  writes  : — 

"  The  deluclveness  of  Bolingbroke's  repeated  observations  are  trans- 
parent enough." 

"  Delusiveness  "  is  singular  ;  therefore  "  is  "  should  have 
been  used. 

Sir  Arthur  Helps  wrote  : — 

"  I  knew  a  brother-author  of  his  who  received  such  criticisms  from 
him  (Dickens)  very  lately,  and  profited  by  it.' 


PARTS   OF  SPEECH.  63 

It  should  be  them  to  ngree  with  criticisms. 

The  Pronoun. — The  relative  pronoun  should  always  bo 
placed  as  near  as  possible  to  the  antecedent  to  which  it 
belongs.  In  the  following  cases  this  rule  is  violated : — 

"  I  met  my  uncle  yesterday  who  toM  rr.e  h«  wap  gOJie;  to  Pan*  " 

— Dr.  MorelL 
This  should  have  been  : — 

"  Yesterday,  I  met  iny  uncle  who  told  me  he  was  going  to  Paris." 
Again  : — 

"  There  are  a  good  many  Radical  members  in  the  House  who  cannot 
fin-give  the  Prime  Minister  for  being  a  Christian." 

This  should  have  been  :  — 

"  In  the  House  there  are  a  good  many  Radical  members  who  cannot 
4>rgive  the  Prime  Minister  for  being  a  Christian." 

"  These  are  the  master's  rules,  who  must  be  obeyed." 

Should  be  : — 

"  These  are  the  rules  of  the  master,  who  must  be  obeyed." 

In  the  following  case  the  wrong  pronouns  are  used  : — 

"  Off  they  flew  till  they  met  the  gray  bird,  who  had  laid  her  egg  in 
their  nest." 

Who  should  be  ivhich,  because  who  is  employed  in  relation 
to  persons  only. 

"  A  man  that  can  write  freely  and  eloquently  in  one  strain,  or  in  one 
species  of  composition,  may  be  dry  and  barren  in  another  strain  or 
another  species  of  composition." — William  Minto. 

"  Men  that  break  loose  from  the  professions,  who  stray  from  the 
oeaten  track  of  life,  take  refuge  in  literature." — Alexander  Smith. 

That  should  be  who. 

Prepositions. — In  the  use  of  prepositions  frequent  errors 
are  made,  especially  in  the  use  of  with.  Thus,  a  writer  in 
the  Saturday  Review  said  that  he  "differed  with  Lord  Derby"  ; 


64  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

trith  should  be  from.  We  invariably  contend  against  diffi- 
culties, and  differ  from  opponents ;  we  never  contend  with 
them,  or  differ  with  them.  A  man  may,  with  others  like- 
minded,  contend  for  the  faith,  against  the  infidel.  In  any 
case,  whether  or  not  he  expresses  the  fact,  he  must  differ 
from,  and  contend  against,  the  object  of  his  difference,  or 
aversion.  A  sentence  should  never  conclude  with  an  insig- 
nificant word.  The  following  sentences  conclude  with  a 
preposition : — 

"  Our  own  contributions  to  it  [a  study  of  Burns],  we  are  aware,  can 
be  bub  scanty  aud  feeble  ;  but  we  offer  them  with  good  will,  and  trust, 
they  may  meet  with  acceptance  from  those  they  are  intended  for." — 
Carlyle. 

Better  thps  • — 

"...     from  those  for  whom  they  are  intended." 
"Most  writers  have  some  me  vein  that  *hey  peculiarly  and  obvionslj 
excel  in.1' — William  Mtn<,o.     • 

Better  thus : — 

"Most  writers  have  some  one  vein  in  which  they  peculiarly  and 
obviously  excel." 


XIIL— ON  PUNCTUATION. 

Punctuation  is  the  art  of  pointing  written  compositions 
for  the  purpose  of  showing  more  clearly  the  relation  and 
meaning  of  the  words.  It  is  ruled  to  a  large  extent  by 
imitation  of  the  pauses  made  by  a  good  speaker ;  but 
according  to  Professor  Marsh,  the  principles  of  punctuation 
are  subtle,  and  an  exact  logical  training  is  requisite  for 
their  just  application.  However  difficult  the  art  may  be, 
all  writers  should  know  how  to  punctuate  their  own  compo- 
sitions. Too  few,  unfortunately,  pay  attention  to  the  correct 
use  of  stops.  An  editor  of  wide  experience  writes  : — 


OX  PUNCTUATION.  65 

A  great  many  people,  occupying  social  and  professional  positions 
where  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  they  should  be  able  to  ^rite  legibly, 
spell  correctly,  and  express  themselves  without  gross  grammatical 
solecisms,  or  very  pronounced  iuelegancies  in  composition,  fulfil  all 
these  conditions,  and  yet  seem  to  have  no  idea  that  it  is  desirable  to 
mark  where  a  sentence  ends  by  using  a  full  point,  and  commencing  the 
next  sentence  with  a  capital  letter.  Sometimes  a  feeble  substitute, 
which  appears  to  be  something  between  a  hyphen  and  a  dash,  is  used 
instead  of  the  required  point.  Often,  however,  letters  are  written  by 
eminent  commercial  men,  and  even  by  members  of  the  learned  profes- 
sions, in  which  the  train  of  ideas  is  never  once  interrupted — so  far  as  the 
eye  is  concerned — by  anything  stronger  than  a  comma.  It  is  needless 
to  enlarge  upon  the  inconvenience  cmsed  by  this  habit,  which  is 
possibly  the  result  rather  of  slovenliness  than  of  ignorance.  We  have 
constant  opportunities  of  noticing  how  the  remarks  of  a  writer,  when 
they  appear  in  print,  are  altogether  misrepresented,  in  consequence  of 
the  neglect  of  the  full  point.  Wherefore,  to  those  who  have  hitherto 
sinned  against  the  light  in  this  respect,  we  in  all  earnestness  apply  the 
vigorous  appeal  of  Hamlet,  ".Reform  it  altogether." 

Many  people  rely  entirely  upon  the  compositors,  who  are 
supposed  to  be  able  to  punctuate,  as  well  as  to  read  writing 
as  bad  as  Horace  Greeley's  or  Dean  Stanley's.  It  is  not 
prudent,  however,  to  leave  a  matter  of  so  much  importance 
to  a  compositor,  for,  however  expert,  he  cannot  always 
understand  the  meaning  of  an  author  so  well  as  the  author 
himself.  The  work  of  compositors  is  to  set  up  "  copy,"  not 
to  read  it ;  and  even  if  it  were  their  duty  to  punctuate,  they 
are  not  always  able  to  do  so.  '1  he  following  example  of  their 
ability  must  not  be  considered  representative :  Two  com- 
positors were  working  in  a  small  printing  office.  "Harry," 
said  one,  "  here  is  a  big  bit  of  copy,  and  not  a  comma  from 
the  head  to  the  tail  of  it."  "Never  mind,"  replied  the 
comrade,  "  throw  in  a  few  here  and  there  !  "  Ignorance  of 
the  principles  of  punctuation  is  not  confined  to  printers. 
Lord  Byron  could  not  punctuate,  and  his  proof  sheets  are 
said  to  have  had  a  most  slovenly  look.  In  returning  a  proof 


66  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

of  one  of  his  poems  to  Murray,  he  wrote:  "God  knows  if 
you  can  read  through  what  I  have  written,  but  I  can't.  If 
you  have  patience,  look  it  over  for  me.  Do  you  know  any- 
body who  can  stop — I  mean  point — commas,  and  so  forth  1 
For  I  am,  I  hear,  a  sad  hand  at  your  punctuation."  Other 
men  love  punctuation  as  much  as  Lord  Byron  hated  it. 
Isaac  Disraeli  said  that  a  habit  of  correctness  in  the  lesser 
parts  of  composition  will  assist  the  higher ;  that  the  great 
Hilton  was  anxious  for  correct  punctuation,  and  that  Addison 
was  solicitous  after  the  minutiae  of  the  press.  Jeffrey,  the 
first  editor  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,  plumed  himself  upon 
his  ability  in  punctuating.  Lord  Cockburn  said  of  him  : — 

"  There  was  no  one  of  the  friends  of  his  later  acquisition  for  whom  he 
had  greater  admiration  or  regard  than  Mr.  Macaul^y  ;  and  lie  testified 
the  interest  which  he  took  in  this  great  writer's  fame  by  a  proceeding 
which,  considering  his  age  and  position,  is  not  unworthy  of  being  told. 
This  judge,  of  seventy-four,  revised  the  proof-sheets  of  Macaulay's  first 
volumes  of  the  History  of  England,  with  the  diligence  and  minute  care 
of  a  corrector  of  the  press  toiling  for  bread,  not  merely  suggesting 
changes  in  the  matter  and  the  expression,  but  attending  to  the  very 
commas  and  colons — a  task  which,  though  humble,  could  not  bo  useless, 
because  it  was  one  at  which  long  practice  had  made  him  very  skilful. 
Indeed,  he  used  to  boast  that  it  was  one  of  his  peculiar  excellencies. 
On  returning  a  proof  to  an  editor  of  the  Review,  he  says :  '  I  have 
myself  rectified  most  of  the  errors,  and  made  many  valuable  verbal 
improvements  in  a  small  way.  But  my  great  t;isk  has  been  with  the 
punctuation,  on  which  I  have,  as  usual,  acquitted  myself  to  admiration. 
And  indeed  this  is  Ihe  department  of  literature  in  which  I  feel  that  I 
most  excel,  and  on  which  I  am  therefore  most  willing  now  to  stake  my 
reputation  ! ' " 

One  of  the  most  particular  of  proof  readers  is  Dr.  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  who  follows  the  printer  up  to  the  last 
moment  of  going  to  pre^s.  Perhaps  the  reports  of  public 
meetings  furnish  the  largest  number  of  errors  of  punctuation. 
When  we  remember  the  long  hours  which  reporters  work. 


ON  PUNCTUATION.  67 

and  the  exhausting  nature  of  their  duties,  we  readily  under- 
stand that  time  will  not  admit  of  much  attention  being  paid 
to  punctuation,  But  we  can  scarcely  do  less  than  sympa- 
thise with  a  clergyman  who,  in  a  sermon  on  the  horrors  of 
intemperance,  is  reported  to  have  said  : — 

"  Why  only  last  Sabbath,  in  this  holy  house,  a  woman  fell  from  one 
of  those  seats  while  I  was  preaching  the  gospel  in  a  state  of  beastlj 
intoxication." 

A  comma  after  "  seats,"  and  another  after  "  gospel,"  would 
have  put  the  saddle  on  the  right  horse.  But  the  sentence 
mi>;ht  have  been  so  constructed  as  to  convey  the  preacher's 
meaning  with  certainty  without  the  aid  of  a  comma.  He 
might  have  said  : — 

"  Why  only  last  Sabbath  in  this  holy  house  while  I  was  preaching  the 
gospc  1  a  woman  fell  from  one  of  those  seats  in  a  state  of  beastly  intoxi- 
cation." 

By  this  construction  the  ambiguity  is  avoided.  Every 
effort  should  be  made  to  construct  sentences  on  a  similar 
method ;  for,  as  Lord  Kaimes  wrote :  "  Punctuation  may 
remove  an  ambiguity,  but  will  never  produce  that  peculiar 
beauty  which  is  perceived  when  the  sense  comes  out  clearly 
and  distinctly  by  means  of  a  happy  arrangement."  The  mis- 
placing of  a  comma  often  alters  the  meaning  of  a  sentence. 
The  contract  made  for  lighting  the  town  of  Liverpool,  during 
the  year  1819,  was  rendered  void  by  the  .misplacing  of  a 
comma  in  the  advertisements,  thus  : — 

"The  lamps  at  present  are  about  4,950,  and  have  in  general  two 
spouts  each,  composed  of  not  less  than  twenty  threads  of  cotton." 

The  contractors  would  have  proceeded  to  furnish  each  lamp 
with  the  said  twenty  threads,  but  this  being  but  half  the 
usual  qimntity,  the  commissioners  discovered  that  the  dif- 
ference arose  from  the  comma  following,  instead  of  preceding, 


68  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

the  word  each.     The  parties  agreed  to  annul  the  contract, 
and  a  new  one  was  ordered. 

"  The  prisoner  said  the  witness  was  a  convicted  thief. 

Thus  ran  a  sentence  in  a  newspaper,  and,  as  the  oft-cited 
Irishman  would  say,  was  nenrly  landing  the  proprietors  in 
hot  water ;  yet  the  words  were  written  and  printed  in  per- 
fect good  faith,  were  true,  and  wanted  no  other  word  or 
qualifying  omission  to  make  them  as  harmless  as  they  were 
j  ustifiable.  Proper  punctuation  alone  was  needed ;  and 
when  proper  punctuation  had  been  supplied  in  deference  to 
a  lawyer's  letter,  the  sentence  was  word  for  word  the  same, 
but  with  an  exactly  opposite  signification: 

"  The  prisoner,  said  the  witness,  was  a  convicted  thief." 

THE    PRINCIPAL   MARKS    OF    PUNCTUATION    ARE:    (1)  COmma, 

(2)  semi-colon,  (3)  colon,  (4)  full  stop,  (5)  the  dash,  (6)  the 
note  of  admiration,  and  (7)  the  note  of  interrogation. 

1. — THE  COMMA  (,)  which  "represents  the  shortest  pause 
in  reading,  and  indicates  a  portion  cut  off."  The  chief  rules 
for  the  insertion  of  commas  are :  (a)  when  words  are  con- 
trasted, as — 

"  Though  Bright,  yet  cloudy." 

(6)    Wli^n  a  sentence  is  inverted,  as  : — 

"  Of  all  our  senses,  sight  is  the  most  perfect  and  delightful." 
"  To  learn  much,  we  must  learn  a  little  at  a  time." — Locke. 

(c)  When  parenthetical,  clauses  are  used,  as  :  — 

"  Books,  regarded  merely  as  a  gratification,  are  worth  more  than  all 
the  luxuries  on  earth." 

"  The  favourite  diversions  of  the  middle  ages,  in  the  intervals  of  war, 
were  those  of  hunting  and  hawking." 

(d)  When   adjectival,   participial,    adverbial,   and  absolute 
phrases  are  used,  as  : — 

"  Cradled  in  the  camp,  Napoleon  was  the  darling  of  the  army." 
"On  the  other  hand,  it  is  asserted." 


ON  PUNCTUATION.  69 

"To  form  an  adequate  idea  of  thi  duties  of  this  crisis,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  raise  your  minds  to  a  level  with  your  station." 

"  Life  is  made  up,  not  of  great  sacrifices  or  duties,  but  of  little  things 
in  which  smiles,  and  kindness,  and  small  obligations,  given  habitually, 
win  and  preserve  the  heart,  and  secure  comfort." — Sir  Humphrey  Davy. 

"  Your  praise  was  welcome,  not  only  because  I  believe  it  was  sincere, 
but  because  praise  has  been  very  scarce." — Johnson. 

(t)  When  two  or  more  phrases  occur  in  the  same  sentence, 
as : — 

"  Regret  for  the  past,  grief  at  the  present,  and  anxiety  respecting  the 
future,  are  plagues  which  affect  most  men." 

"  Order  is  the  sanity  of  the  mind,  the  health  of  the  body,  the  peace 
of  the  city,  the  security  of  the  State." — S<>uthey. 

(/)    When  a  verb  is  understood,  as  : — 
"  To  err  is  human  ;  to  forgive,  divine." 

"  Reading  makes  a  full  man  ;  writing,  an  exact  man  ;  conversation,  a 
ready  man." 

(g)    When  words  go  in  pairs,  as  : — 

"  The  authority  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  of  Zeno  and  Epicurus,  still 
reigned  in  the  schools." 

"  In  his  successes  and  his  failures,  in  his  greatness  and  his  littleness, 
he  is  ever  clear,  simple,  true,  and  glitters  with  no  lustre  but  his  own.'' — 
Carlyle  on  Burns. 

2.  THE  SEMICOLON'  (;)  represents  a  longer  pause  than  a 
comma,  and  indicates  "half  a  member  of  a  sentence."  It 
should  be  used  (a)  when  two  classes  —the  one  perfect  in 
itself,  and  the  other  added  as  a  matter  of  inference — are 
united  by  a  conjunction,  as  : — 

"  The  ships  were  in  extreme  peril ;  for  the  river  was  low,  and  the 
only  navigable  channel  ran  very  near  to  the  left  bank." — Macaulay. 

(b)  When  several  words  separated  ly  a  comma  stand  in  the 
same  relation  to  of  her  words  in  the  sentence,  as  : — 

"  Grammar  is  divided  into  four  parts ;  orthography,  etymology, 
syntax,  and  prosody." 


70  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

3.  THE  COLOX  (  : )  is  placed  after  a  sentence  complete  in 
itself,  but  followed  by  an  illustration,  as  : — 

"  By  this  means  was  the  young  head  furnished  with  a  considerable 
miscellany  of  things  and  shadows  of  things  :  History  in  authentic 
fragments  lay  mingled  with  fabulous  chimeras,  wherein  also  was 
reality. " — Carlyle. 

"  Instead  of  always  reading,  I  prefer  to  think  :  on  every  subject  there 
are  only  a  few  leading  ideas,  and  these  we  may  originate  for  ourselves." 
Sheridan, 

4.  THE  FULL  STOP  ( . ). — When  a  sentence  is  complete  in 
itself  and  has  no  grammatical  connection  with  what  follows, 
a  full  sijp,  period,  or,  as  printers  call  it,  a  fall  point,  is  used, 

is: — 

''  Procrastination  is  the  thief  of  time." 
"  Health  is  wealth." 

5.  THE  DASH  ( — )  is  generally  used  to  mark  an  unexpected 
or  an  emphatic  clause,  as  : — 

"  Was  thare  ever  a  bolder  captain,  or  a  more  valiant  band  ?  Was 
there  ever — but  I  scorn  to  boast." 

''  To  foster  industry,  to  promote  union,  to  cherish  religious  peace — 
these  were  his  honest  purposes." 

"  If  we  wish  rural  walks  to  do  our  children  good,  we  must  give  them 
a  love  for  rural  sights,  an  object  in  every  walk  ;  we  must  teach  them — 
and  we  can  teach  them — to  find  wonder  in  every  insect,  sublimity  in 
every  hedge-row,  the  records  of  past  worlds  in  every  pebble,  and  bound- 
less fertility  upon  the  barren  shore." — Kingsley. 

6.  THE  NOTE  OF  ADMIRATION  (  ! ). — This  is  used  after  ex- 
pressions of  sudden  emotion  or  passion,   and  after  solemn 
invocations  and  addresses,  as: — 

"Ah  !  the  coward  !  exclain:ed  Pompey." 

7.  NOTE  OF  INTERROGATION  (?). — This   is  placed  at  the 
eud  of  a  sentence  when  a  question  is  asked.     Thus  : — 

''  Where  are  the  dead  ?  " 


ON  PUNCTUATION.  71 

It  is  impossible  to  give  here  all  the  rules  relating  to 
punctuation,  and  the  student  is  strongly  advised  to  study 
their  application  in  the  works  of  great  writers,  especially 
iu  those  of  Macaulay,  who  was  extremely  accurate  in  his 
punctuation. 

The  following  sentence  shows  how  difficult  it  is  to  read 
without  the  aid  of  points  : — 

''  Death  waits  not  for  storm  nor  sunshine  within  a  dwelling  in  one  of 
the  upper  streets  respectable  in  appearance  aud  furnished  with  such 
conveniences  as  distinguish  the  habitations  of  those  who  rank  among 
the  higher  classes  of  society  a  man  of  middle  age  lay  on  his  last  bed 
momently  awaiting  the  final  summons  all  that  the  most  skilful  medical 
attendance  all  that  love  warm  as  the  glow  that  fires  an  angel's  bosom 
could  do  had  been  done  by  day  and  night  for  many  long  weeks  had 
ministering  spirits  such  as  a  devoted  wife  and  loving  children  done 
all  within  their  power  to  ward  off  the  blow  but  there  he  lay  his  raven 
hair  smoothed  off  from  his  noble  brow  his  dark  eyes  lighted  with 
unnatural  brightness  and  contrasting  strongly  with  the  pallid  hue 
which  marked  him  aa  an  expectant  of  the  dread  messenger," 

The  same  sentence,  properly  pointed,  and  with  capital 
letters  placed  after  full-points,  according  to  the  foregoing 
rules,  may  be  easily  read  and  understood  : — 

''  Death  waits  not  for  storm  nor  sunshine.  Within  a  dwelling  in  one 
of  the  upper  streets,  respectable  in  appearance,  and  furnished  with  such 
conveniences  as  distinguish  the  habitations  of  those  who  rank  among 
the  higher  classes  of  society,  a  man  of  middle  age  lay  on  his  last  bed, 
momently  awaiting  the  final  summons.  All  that  the  most  skilful 
medical  attendance — all  that  love,  warm  as  the  glow  that  fires  an 
angel's  bosom,  could  do,  had  been  done  ;  by  day  and  night,  for  many 
long  weeks,  had  ministering  spirits,  such  as  a  devoted  wife  and  loving 
children,  done  all  within  their  power  to  ward  off  the  blow.  But 
there  he  lay,  his  raven  hair  smoothed  off  from  his  noble  brow,  his  dark 
eyes  lighted  with  unnatural  brightness,  and  contrasting  strongly  with 
the  pallid  hue  which  marked  him  as  an  expectant  of  the  drea<* 
messenger." 


72  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

XIV.— ON  PARAPHRASE. 

To  paraphrase  is  to  reproduce  in  other  language  the  words 
of  an  author,  or  to  change  the  language  of  one  expression  vr 
collection  of  words,  phrases,  or  sentences  into  another,  so  as 
to  retain  and  explain,  in  different  words  and  form,  the  ideas 
the  original  words  express.  A  good  paraphrase  should, 
moreover  bring  out  more  clearly,  if  possible,  the  meaning  of 
an  author,  and  some  hold  that  it  ought  to  be,  not  only  a  sort 
of  explanatory  translation  of  any  passage  of  poetry  or  prose, 
but  a  commentary  on  the  subject  treated.  To  write  a  good 
paraphrase,  therefore,  implies  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
meaning  of  the  author  read ;  hence  the  educational  value 
of  paraphrasing. 

Great  importance  is  attached  to  paraphrasing  by  Her 
Majesty's  Inspectors,  who  set  exercises  in  it  at  all  examina- 
tions. But  it  does  not  appear  to  be  very  well  done,  either 
by  the  children  in  the  higher  standards,  or  by  pupil-teachers. 
One  inspector  states  that  irp  his  district  paraphrasing  is 
partly  a  verbatim  copy  of  the  originals,  and  partly  a  mass 
of  absurdities ;  another,  that  the  attempts  at  paraphrase  are 
mostly  impossible  to  pass ;  a  third,  that  very  few  of  the 
candidates  have  a  clear  idea  of  what  is  meant  by  a  paraphrase. 

Writing  of  a  pupil  who  had  just  closed  his  apprenticeship, 
and  who  was  about  to  commence  bis  training  college  career, 
his  inspector  says  that  he  was  asked  to  paraphrase  this 
passage,  familiar,  the  inspector  thinks,  as  household  words  : — 

"  For  in  that  sleep  of  death  what  dreams  may  corne. 
When  we  have  shuffled  off  this  moital  coil, 
Must  give  us  pause  :  there  is  the  respect 
That  makes  calamity  of  so  long  a  life." 

Here  follows  his  paraphrase,  which  the  inspector  prints 
without  comment : — 


ON  PARAPHRASE.  73 

"  This  passage  means  that  when  we  are  dead,  no  dreams  can  disturb 
us  then.  By  '  shuffling  off  this  mortal  coil '  means  by  trying  to  get  out 
of  dying,  which  is  impossible.  We  must  also  respect  it." 

The  following  rules  will  be  found  helpful  in  paraphrasing: 

1.  Read  over  carefully  the  passage  to  be  paraphrased  until  you  havo 
grasped  its  drift. 

2.  Note  the  leading  propositions,  and  separate  them  from  explanatory 
statements  accompanying  them. 

3.  Put  down,   if  necessary,   the  meaning  of  any  words  used  in  a 
peculiar  sense,  and  then  draw  up  a  rough  outline  of  your  paraphrase, 
afterwards  writing  it  out  neatly. 

4.  Use  simple  language,    and  express  every  idea  contained  in  the 
original  passage  clearly. 

5.  Reduce   inversions  to    their    natural   prose  order.     Shakespeare 
says  :  "  The  last  leave  of  thee  takes  my  weeping  eye,"  for  "  My  weeping 
eye  takes  the  last  leave  of  thee." 

6.  Explain  obscure  expressions.    •  In  order  to  be    brief,   the   poet 
frequently  becomes    obscure.      Wherever    obscurity   arises   from   this 
cause,  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  amplify  the  passage,  but  at  the 
same  time  using  no  needless  words.       Other  things  being  equal,  the 
best  paraphrase  is  that  which  expresses  the  full  meaning  of  the  author 
in  the  fewest  words. 

7.  Elliptical  expressions  should  be   filled    up,  thus  :    "  I  must  to 
Coventry,"  would  be  "  I  must  go  to  Coventry.*' 

The  following  illustration  will  make  it  clearer  how  to 
paraphrase  : — • 

"  His  nature  is  too  noble  for  the  world. 
He  would  not  flatter  Neptune  for  his  trident, 
Or  Jove  for  his  power  to  thunder." — Coriolanus,  iii,  1. 

We  have  (1)  an  assertion,  that,  his  nature  is  noble;  (2)  an 
implication,  that  noble  natures  are  not  too  much  in  favour 
with  the  world  ;  and  (3)  two  illustrations  of  the  nobility  of 
his  nature,  that  he  would  not  flatter  even  Neptune  to  gain 
his  trident,  and  that  he  would  not  flatter  even  Jupiter  to 
acquire  his  power  to  thunder.  The  meaning  of  the  words 


74  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION: 

must  then  be  noted :  nature  meaning  disposition  or  character; 
world,  society ;  flatter,  fawn  upon  ;  Neptune,  the  ruler  of  the 
sea ;  trident,  sceptre,  sign  of  supremacy  and  might ;  Jove, 
the  father  of  gods  and  men ;  thunder,  to  frighten,  punish,  or 
destroy.  The  paraphrase,  then,  would  be: — 

He  is  too  good  and  noble  for  the  tastes  of  any  society,  which  cares 
little  for  noble  natures.  He  would  not  fawn  upon  the  god  of  the  sea 
even  though  he  might  be  able  to  gain  the  ability  to  rule  the  waves 
himself ;  nor  would  he  bow  the  knee  to  the  greatest  of  the  gods  in 
order  to  possess  the  power  to  frighten  or  kill  others. 


XV.- HINTS  FOR  ESSAYISTS. 

Draw  out  a  plan  of  your  subject.  An  author  lays  out  his 
programme  with  as  much  ingenuity  as  an  architect  draws 
out  his  plans  of  buildings.  ,  Skilful  arrangement  is  one  of 
the  arts  of  authorship.  No  builder  would  begin  to  build  a 
house  before  he  had  a  plan  prepared  for  his  guidauce. 
Having  a  plan,  he  would  first  dig  the  foundations,  for 
without  them  a  house  could  not  stand.  An  essayist  must 
begin  his  work  in  a  similar  manner.  Macaulay's  method 
was  to  make  a  general  plan  on  large  sheets  of  paper,  with 
lines  far  apart;  he  then  filled  in,  crowding  sentence  upon 
sentence  until  the  whole  was  a  marvel  to  see,  and  when 
change  for  the  better,  or  illustration,  or  amplification  seemed 
impossible,  he  copied  the  whole  out  in  a  fair  hand  for  the 
printer.  Johnson  wrote  all  the  articles  for  his  Rambler  as 
they  were  wanted,  but  he  sketched  them  in  outline  before 
beginning  to  write.  For  subject,  take  the  advice  of  Horace, 
and  choose  one  within  your  strength.  Having  full  command 


HINTS   FOR   ESSAYISTS.  75 

of  your  subject,  you  will  rarely  be  at  a  loss  either  for  choice 
of  words  or  clear  arrangement.  When  you  have  written  your 
paper,  read  it  over  aloud.  The  ear  will  discover  defects 
which  the  eye  cannot  see.  If  a  sentence  does  not  read  well, 
re-cast  it.  If  it  be  harsh,  make  it  musical. 

BIOGRAPHY  is  the  most  pleasant  and  most  profitable  of  all 
kinds  of  reading,  and  biographical  subjects  are  certainly 
the  easiest  to  write  about.  Men  like  to  read  of  men  who 
have  lived  noble  lives,  and  done  noble  deeds — who  have 
written  famous  books,  erected  fine  churches,  or  constructed 
famous  engineering  works.  Of  great  authors  especially,  men 
like  to  know  the  incidents  of  their  lives,  of  their  studies, 
how  they  lived,  and  how  they  worked,  and  the  means  by 
which  they  attained  their  excellence.  As  an  aid  in  the 
formation  of  character,  and  as  a  stimulus  to  exertion, 
biography  has  high  claims  upon  our  attention.  In  writing 
a  biographical  essay,  a  brief  summary  of  the  principal  events 
in  a  man's  life  should  be  attempted.  It  should  open  with  a 
paragraph  as  to  the  position  he  held  among  his  fellows,  and 
should  be  followed  by  au  account  of  his  birth,  education, 
and  work.  Finally,  au  estimate  of  his  character  and  his 
influence  should  be  given.  The  following  outline  of  an 
article  on  Mr.  Gladstone  will  serve  as  an  example : — 

1.  Introductory.  2.  Influences  of  Youth  :  Canning,  Eton,  Oxford ; 
Enters  Parliament.  3.  Literary  Studies  :  Church  and^State  :  Sever- 
ance from  the  Conservative  Ranks.  4.  Visit  to  Naples :  Growing 
Influence  in  Parliament.  5.  Financial  Minister  of  the  Crown :  The 
Budget  of  1853 :  The  Income  Tax.  6.  In  Opposition :  Homeric 
Studies.  7.  Visits  Ionian  Islands  :  Paper  Duty  Repealed  :  Treaty  with 
France.  8.  Political  Activity  :  Severance  from  Oxford.  9.  Returned 
for  South  Lancashire :  Parliamentary  Reform.  10.  Defeat  on  the 
Reform  Bill  :  Agitation  in  the  Country.  11.  The  State  of  Ireland  : 
Irish  Education  :  The  Land  Question  :  Disestablishment.  12.  The 
Irish  Church  :  Rejected  by  South-Wesfc  Lancashire:  Member  for 
Gretmvich.  13.  Liberal  Reaction  :  Fall  of  the  Ministry:  Retires  from 


76  ENGLISH    COMPOSITION. 

the  Liberal  Leadership.  14.  The  Church  of  Rome  :  The  Vatican 
Decrees.  15.  The  Great  Romish  Controversy :  Dr.  Newman  :  Papal 
Infallibility.  16.  The  Eastern  Question  :  The  Bulgarian  Atrocities  : 
The  Blackheath  Speech  :  Effect  on  the  Country.  17-  Personal  Govern- 
ment :  The  Afghan  War.  18.  Continued  Opposition  to  the  Government : 
The  Foreign  Office  Despatches.  20.  Imperialism  :  The  Lust  of  Empire — 
England's  Mission.  21.  Recess  Studies  :  Dr.  Chalmers :  Dr.  Newman  : 
Wedgwood :  Homer  again.  22.  Recess  Studies  (continued)  :  Ecce 
Homo :  The  Prince  Consort.  23.  His  Eloquence  :  Powers  of  Debate  : 
Relation  to  the  Liberal  Party.  24.  His  Plea  for  Change  of  View.  25. 
Personal  Character  :  Academic  Honours  :  His  Services  to  Christianity. 

HISTORY.  —Every  person  should  be  familiar  with  the  history 
of  his  own  country,  and  especially  with  the  history  of  its 
moral  and  material  progress.  Examiners  in  English  Com- 
position frequently  ask  for  essays  on  leading  characters  in 
history  :  the  following  are  examples  : — 

I.  George  IV.  and  William  IV. — Limits:  (a)  The  prevail- 
ing national  sentiments;  (6)  parties  in  the  State  ;    (r)  leading 
statesmen,  their  principles  and  measures  ;  (d)  the  growth  cf 
the  nation ;  (e)  eminent  men  in  literature,  science,  and  art, 
inventors,    &c.  ;    (/)  principal   civil    and    military    events ; 
(a)  educational  and  social  progress. 

II.  Whigs  and  Tories. — Explain  the  origin  of  the  Whig 
and  Tory  parties ;  and  show  in  what  sense  Shaftesbnry  has 

been  called  the  founder  of  the  former. 
• 

III.  Ireland. — What  was  the  condition  of  Ireland  at  the 

time  of  Oliver  Cromwell's  arrival  there  1  What  was  the 
nature  of  his  campaign  and  of  the  settlement  effected  by 
him? 

IV.  Magna  Charta. — Sketch,  in  its  general  bearings  upon 
the  struggle  which  resulted  in  Magna  Charta,  the  history  of 
the  reign  of  John  up  to  the  commendation  of  his  kingdom 
to  Rome,  and  illustrate  the  meaning  of  this  act. 


HINTS   FOR   ESSAYISTS.  77 

SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. — I.  The  Effects  of 
Machinery. — During  the  last  hundred  years  the  substitution 
of  machinery  for  hand  labour  in  the  staple  industries  of  this 
country  has  been  very  extensive.  (1)  State  the  principal 
advantages  and  disadvantages  arising  from  this  substitu- 
tion, and  give  illustrations  in  one  or  more  employments — 
(a)  Upon  the  workpeople  ;  (b)  upon  the  employers  ;  (c)  upon 
the  general  public — home  and  foreign ;  and  (2)  point  out 
what,  in  your  opinion,  are  the  best  means  of  rema  lying  any 
evils  which  may  have  fallen  upon  the  workpeople  in 
particular  from  the  progress  of  machinery  in  their  various 
occupations. 

II.  Technical  Edum'ion  and  How  to  Extend  it. — To   be 
considered    under    the    several    heads    of — (a)    Statement 
of  intention  and    importance   of  technical  education,   with 
a   discussion   of  the  relation  of  the   arts  to    the    sciences; 
(6)  technical  schools,   descriptive   of  approved   models ;   (c) 
future    relation    of    Mechanics'    Institutions    to    Technical 
Schools ;    (d)    how    best   to    make   workmen    and    others 
interested ;    (e)    the   special   technical   needs   of  particular 
districts. 

III.  Division  of  Labour. — Mention  some  of  the  chief  advan- 
tages of  division  of  labour,   and    point   out   the  limits  to 
profitable  separation  of  employment. 

IV.  Co-operation.  —  To   what    extent   is   it  likely   that 
co-operation    will   supersede  the  present  mode  of  carrying 
on  business,  both  productive  and  distributive  ]  How  far  is 
it  desirable  that  it  should  do  so  ? 

V.  Trades. — Explain    what  is   meant    by   the    industrial 
organisation  of  society  ?     Show  how  trades  may  be  connected 
with  one  another,  and  what  effects  are  due  to  this   con 
nectiou  1 


78  ENGLISH    COMPOSITION. 

VI.  Wages.  —  "Wages   aie   determined   by   supply   and 
demand."      Investigate   fully  the   significance  of  this   pro- 
position. 

VII.  Trade    Unions. — What  is    a   Trade  Union?     What 
^re   its  objects  and    how  does  it  propose  to  attain   them  ? 
Would  you  think  it  better  to  strike  for  an  advance  of  wages 
or  against  a  reduction  ? 

BOOKS  OP  REFERENCE  :  Mill's  "  Political  Economy ; " 
Fawcett's  "  Political  Economy,"  and  '•  Economic  Position  of 
the  British  Labourer  ;"  Enderby  on  "  Money  and  Riches;" 
Brassey  on  "Work  and  Wages;"  Thornton  on  "  Labour ;" 
•  Maculloch  on  "Wages  and  Labour;"  Senior  on  "The 
Trades  Unions  of  England  ;"  Holyoake  on  "  The  History  of 
Co-operation." 


XVI.— ON  CONTROVERSY. 

As  a  rule,  subjects  likely  to  provoke  controversy  are  better 
avoided,  for,  as  Philip  G.  Hamerton  has  observed,  "  Men  are 
so  unfair  in  controversy  that  we  best  preserve  the  serenity 
of  the  intellect  by  studiously  avoiding  all  literature  that  has 
a  controversial  tone."  But  we  cannot  understand  the  great 
questions  which  agitate  society,  nor  can  we  act  the  part  of 
true  citizens  if  we  neglect  controversial  literature,  or  to  take 
part  in  considering  questions  affecting  our  own  welfare,  and 
the  physical  and  moral  welfare  of  our  country.  It  seems 
selfish  to  shut  ourselves  up  in  our  own  little  world,  and 
certainly  it  has  a  narrowing  effect  upon  our  mind  to  read 
nothing  but  what  we  agree  with.  As  Lord  Moncrieff  said  at 
the  opening  of  the  new  Glasgow  Club,  it  is  bad  for  a  man 
never  to  be  contradicted.  To  find  that  there  are  differences 
of  opinion  on  what  he  considers  the  plainest  questions  is  one 


ON   CONTROVERSY.  79 

of  the  lessons  of  life.  What  he  said  of  the  club  may  also  be 
said  of  the  debating  class ;  it  is  a  great  school  in  which  to 
learn  toleration  and  courtesy,  and  it  supplies  means  of 
instruction  in  those  arts  which  he  describes  as  the  science  of 
life — namely,  to  know  how  much  to  say,  when  to  speak,  when 
to  listen,  and  when  to  be  silent.  We  admit  that  the  way  in 
which  most  men  advocate  their  own  theories,  and  abuse 
those  who  differ  from  them,  tempts  a  man  who  values  peace 
of  mind  to  avoid  controversial  questions ;  and  we  are  glad  to 
see  that  the  Bishop  of  Manchester  has  drawn  attention  to 
this  guerilla  method  of  opposing. parties.  "Our  best  men," 
he  says,  "  whether  from  a  dislike  of  controversy  and  conflict, 
or  from  an  over-sensitiveness  of  nature  which  is  revolted  by 
the  tricks  and  stratagems,  and  sometimes  by  the  coarseness 
and  vulgarity  of  public  life,  are  too  apt  to  draw  out  of  the 
whirling  stream,  and  seek  quiet  little  havens  where  they  may 
occupy  themselves  with  their  own  thoughts  and  favourite 
pursuits,  leaving,  as  Horace  says,  the  smoke,  and  the  wealth, 
and  the  turmoil  of  the  great  city  far  away." 

It  is  unfortunate  for  the  country  when  "  the  better,  wiser 
nobler  minds,"  do  not  put  forth  their  efforts  and  make  their 
influence  felt ;  for  "  nothing  is  more  prejudicial  to,  or  destruc- 
tive of,  gi'eat  results  in  any  of  the  large  departments  of  life 
than  when  a  number  of  small-minded  men  get  together,  think- 
ing as  nearly  as  possible  alike,  and  encouraging  each  other  in 
their  short-sightedness  of  view  or  pettiness  of  motive.  You  can 
test  the  accuracy  of  this  statement  for  yourselves  by  observing 
the  composition  and  working  of  any  organisation  avowedly 
formed  for  partisan  purpose,  and  you  will  find  that  'the 
wires '  are  generally  '  pulled '  by  men  who  are  cunning  and 
subtle  and  foxy  in  their  nature,  rather  than  by  those  whose 
higher  spirits  will  never  stoop  to  a  meanness,  or  a  falsehood, 
or  a  subterfuge."  How  is  this  disgraceful  state  of  things  to 


80  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

be  prevented?  Not  by  holding  aloof  from  political  parties, 
but  by  bringing  our  own  influence  to  bear  upon  the  evil,  by 
taking  our  own  share  in  the  formation  of  public  opinion. 
The  stream  of  foul  and  abusive  language  must  be  purified, 
and  those  who  contribute  to  produce  it  driven  forth.  But 
what  if  hard  words  be  spoken  of  us  ?  To  pay  a  man  back  in 
his  own  coin  is  the  rule  of  the  world,  but  not  the  rule 
of  Christ. 

It  is  related  that  Professor  Vince  was  once  arguing  at. 
Cambridge  against  duelling,  and  some  one  said,  "  Well,  but 
Professor,  what  would  yon  do  if  any  one  called  you  a  liar?" 
"  Sir,"  said  the  fine  old  man  in  his  peculiar  brogue,  "  1  should 
tell  him  to  pruv ;  and  if  he  did  pruv  it,  I  should  be  ashamed 
of  myself;  and  if  he  did  not,  he  ought  to  be  ashamed  of 
himself."  In  the  discussion  of  controversial  questions, 
therefore,  the  fundamental  principles  of  courtesy  should  be 
rigorously  observed.  As  Dr.  JeT<m<r.m  said,  differing  from  a 
man  in  doctrine  is  no  reason  why  you  should  pull  his  house 
abovit  his  ears.  In  a  paragraph  appended  to  the  constitution 
and  bye  laws  of  a  debating  society,  members  are  enjoined 
"  to  treat  each  other  with  delicacy  and  respect,  conduct  all 
discussions  with  candour,  moderation,  and  open  generosity, 
avoid  all  personal  allusions  and  sarcastic  language  calculated 
to  wound  the  feelings  of  a  brother,  nd  cherish  concord  and 
good  fellowship."  The  spirit  of  this  injunction  should  pervade 
the  heart  of  all  who  take  part  in  controversial  questions. 
Mr.  George  Jacob  Holyoake  thus  Hums  up  some  obvious  laws 
which  should  be  impressed  on  all  who  controvert: — 

1.  To  consult  in  all  cases  the  improvement  of  those  whom  we  oppose, 
and  to  this  end  argue  not  for  our  gratification,  or  pride,  or  vanity,  but 
for  their  enlightenment 

2.  To  invert  the  vulgar  mode  of  judgment,  and  not,  when  we  guess 
at  motives,  guess  the  worst,  but  adopt  the  best  construction  the  case 
admits. 


ON   CONTROVERSY.  .  81 

3.  To    distinguish    between    the   personalities    which  impugn    the 
judgment,  and  those  that  criminate  character,  and  never  to  advance 
accusations  of  either  kind  without  distinct  and  indisputable  proof,  never 
to  assail  character  on  suspicion,  probability,  belief,  or  likelihood. 

4.  To  keep  distinct  the  two  kinds  of  personalities,  never  mixing  up 
those  which  pertain  to  character  with  those  which  pertain  to  judgment. 

5.  Not  to  meddle  with  either,  unless  some  public  good  is  to  come  out 
of  it.     It  is  not  enough  that  a  charge  is  true  ;  it  must  be  useful  to 
prefer  it  before  a  wise  publicist  will  meddle  with  it. 

6.  To  dare  all  personalities  ourselves,  to  brave  all  attacks,  to  defy  the 
judgment  of  mankind,  and  when  we  are  assailed,  unfailingly  to  respect 
ourselves,  and  keep  in  view  the  betterance  of  him  whom  we  oppose 
rather  than  our  personal  gratification. 

Before  all  things,  in  the  consideration  of  questions  which 
excite  controversy,  search  for  principles,  pursue  Truth,  and 
do  this  in  Love.  Half  the  differences  in  the  world  arise  from 
ignorance,  and  chiefly  from  ignorance  of  the  meaning  of 
terms.  For  the  rest,  be  quick  to  affirm  truth,  but  slow  to 
denounce  error.  Aim  to  propose,  hesitate  to  oppose. 
Remember  that  construction  is  the  higher  law,  destruction  the 
lower  and  baser  one.  Avoid  speculation  as  you  would  the 
plague.  Seek  for  that  which  is  positive,  and  shun  that 
which  is  negative. 
F 


APPENDIX. 


EXERCISES  FOE  PARAPHRASING 


I.— MERCY. 

*  The  quality  of  meroy  is  not  strained : 
It  droppeth  as  the  gentle  rain  from  heaven 
Upon  the  place  beneath.     It  is  twice  blest : 
It  blesseth  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes : 
"Tis  mightiest  in  the  mightiest :  it  becomes 
The  throned  monarch  better  than  his  crown  ; 
His  sceptre  shows  the  force  of  temporal  power, 
The  attribute  to  awe  and  majesty, 
Wherein  doth  sit  the  dread  and  fear  of  kinga. 
But  mercy  is  above  this  sceptred  sway, 
It  is  enthroned  in  the  hearts  of  kings, 
It  is  an  attribute  to  God  himself  ; 
And  earthly  power  doth  then  show  likest  God's, 
When  mercy  seasons  justice." 

— Shakespere. 


II.— THE  APPROACH  OF  NIGHT. 

The  curfew  tolls  the  knell  of  parting  day  ; 

The  lowing  herd  winds  slowly  o'er  the  lea  ; 
The  ploughman  homeward  plods  his  weary  way, 

And  leaves  the  world  to  darkness  and  to  me. 

Now  fades  the  glimmering  landscape  on  the  sight* 
And  all  the  air  a  solemn  stillness  holds  ; 

Save  where  the  beetle  wheels  his  droning  flight, 
And  drowsy  tinklings  lull  the  distant  folds. 


ENGLISH  COMPOSITION". 

III.— AN   IRISH   SCHOOLMASTER. 

"  Beside  yon  straggling  fence  that  skirts  the  way 
With  blossomed  furze  unprofitably  gay — 
There,  in  his  noisy  mansion,  skilled  to  rule, 
The  village  master  taught  his  little  school ; 
A  man  severe  he  was,  and  stern  to  view. 
I  knew  him  well,  and  every  truant  knew  ; 
Well  had  the  boding  tremblers  learned  to  trace 
The  day's  disasters  in  his  morning  face  ; 
Full  well  they  laughed  with  counterfeited  glee 
At  all  his  jokes,  for  many  a  joke  had  he  ; 
Full  well  the  busy  whisper,  circling  round, 
Conveyed  the  dismal  tidings  when  he  frowned. 
Yet  he  was  kind,  or  if  severe  in  aught, 
The  love  he  bore  to  learning  was  in  fault. 
The  village  all  declared  how  much  he  knew  ; 
"Twas  certain  he  could  write,  and  cipher  too  ; 
Lands  he  could  measure,  terms  and  tides  presage, 
And  even  the  story  ran  that  he  could  guage. 
In  arguing,  too,  the  parson  owned  his  skill, 
For  e'en  though  vanquished,  he  could  argue  still ; 
While  words  of  learned  length  and  thund'ring  sound 
Amazed  the  gazing  rustics  ranged  around, 
And  still  they  gazed,  and  still  the  wonder  grew 
That  one  such  head  could  carry  all  he  knew." 

— Goldsmith. 


IV.— A  MONARCH'S  DEATH-BED. 

"  Alone  she  sat :  from  hill  and  wood 
Red  sank  the  mournful  sun  ; 
Fast  gush'd  the  fount  of  noble  blood — 
Treason  its  worst  had  done, 
With  her  long  hair  she  vainly  press'd 
The  wounds,  to  stanch  their  tide — • 
Unknown,  on  that  meek  humble  breast, 
Imperial  Albert  died." 

— Mrs,  Ilemant. 


APPENDIX  87 

V.— THE  FARMER'S  LIFE. 

The  farmer's  life  displays  in  every  part, 

A  moral  lesson  to  the  sensual  heart, 

Though  in  the  lap  of  plenty,  thoughtful  still, 

He  looks  beyond  the  present  good  or  ill, 

Nor  estimates  alone  one  blessing's  worth 

From  changeful  seasons,  or  capricious  earth  ; 

But  views  the  future  with  the  present  hours, 

And  looks  for  failures  as  he  looks  for  showers ; 

For  casual  as  for  certain  want  prepares, 

And  round  his  yard  the  reeking  haystack  rears, 

Or  clover,  blossomed  lovely  to  the  sight ; 

His  team's  rich  store  through  many  a  wintry  night." 

— Robert  Bloomfeld. 


VI.— THE  TRUE  SOLITUDE. 

To  sit  on  rocks,  to  muse  o'er  flood  and  fell, 

To  slowly  trace  the  furest's  shady  scene, 
Where  things  that  own  not  man's  dominion  dwell, 

And  mortal  foot  hath  ne'er  or  rarely  been  ; 
To  climb  the  trackless  mountain  all  unseen. 

With  the  wild  flock  that  never  needs  a  fold ; 
Alone  o'er  steeps  and  f oamiu ,'  falls  to  lean  ; 

This  is  .not  solitude  ;  'tis  but  to  h<  Id 
Converse  with  nature's  charms,  and  view  her  stores  unroll' d. 

But  'midst  the  crowd,  the  hum,  the  shock  of  men, 

To  hear,  to  see,  to  feel,  and  to  possess, 
And  roam  along,  the  world's  tired  denizen, 

With  none  who  bless  us,  none  whom  we  can  bless  ; 
Minions  of  splendour  shrinking  from  distress  1 

None  that,  with  kindred  consciousness  endued, 
If  we  were  not,  would  seem  to  smile  the  less. 

Of  all  that  flatter'd,  follow'd,  sought,  and  sued  ; 
This  is  to  be  alone  ;  this,  this  is  solitude  ! 

— Byon. 


88  ENGLISH  COMPOS  1TIOK 

VIL— GREEN  OLD  AGE. 

Though  I  look  old,  yet  I  am  strong  and  lusty, 
For  in  my  youth  I  never  did  apply 
Hot  and  rebellious  liquors  in  my  blood  ; 
Nor  did  I  with  unbashful  forehead  woo 
The  means  of  weakness  and  debility  : 
Therefore  my  age  is  as  a  lusty  winter — 
Frosty  but  kindly. — Shokespere. 


VIII.— LOVK 

'Tis  better  to  have  loved  and  lost, 
Than  never  to  have  loved  at  all 

— Tennyson, 


IX.— THE  ILLUMINATED  CITY. 

"  The  hills  all  glow'd  with  a  festive  light, 
For  the  royal  city  rejoiced  by  night : 
There  were  lamps  hung  forth  upon  tower  and  tree, 
Banners  were  lifted  and  streaming  free  ; 
Every  tall  pillar  was  wreath'd  with  fire  ; 
Like  a  shooting  meteor  was  every  spire  ; 
And  the  outline  of  many  a  dome  on  high 
Was  traced,  as  in  stars,  on  the  clear  dark  sky. 


I  saw  not  the  face  of  a  weeper  there — 
Too  strong,  perchance,  was  the  bright  lamps'  glare  ! 
I  heard  not  a  wail  midst  the  joyous  crowd — 
The  music  of  victory  was  all  too  loud  ! 
Mighty  it  roll'd  on  the  winds  afar, 
Shaking  the  streets  like  a  conqueror's  car — 
Through  torches  and  streamers  its  flood  swept  by ; 
How  could  I  listen  for  moan  and  sigh  ?  " 

— Mrs.  Ilemani. 


APPENDIX.  89 

X.— THE  GRAVES  OF  A  HOUSEHOLD 

"  They  grew  in  beauty  side  by  side, 
They  fill'd  one  hocue  with  glee  ; 
Their  graves  are  sever'd  far  and  wide, 
By  mount,  and  stream,  and  sea. 

The  same  fond  mother  bent  at  night 

O'er  each  fair  sleeping  brow  ; 
She  had  each  folded  flower  in  sight — 

Where  are  those  dreamers  now  ? " 

— Mn.  Remans. 


XL— THE  EFFIGIES. 

"  Warrior  !  whose  image  on  thy  tomb, 
With  shield  and  crested  head, 
Sleeps  proudly  in  the  purple  gloom 
By  the  stain'd  window  shed  ; 
The  records  of  thy  name  and  race 
Have  faded  from  the  stone, 
Yet,  through  a  cloud  of  years,  I  trace 
What  thou  hast  been  and  done." 

— Mrs.  Hemang. 


XIL— THE   SUNBEAM. 

Thou  art  no  lingerer  in  monarch's  hall — 
A  joy  thou  art,  and  a  wealth  to  all ! 
A  bearer  of  hope  unto  land  and  sea — 
Sunbeam  !  what  gift  hath  the  world  like  thee  ? 

I  look'd  on  the  peasant's  lowly  cot — 
Something  of  sadness  had  wrapt  the  spot ; 
But  a  gleam  of  thee  on  its  lattice  fell, 
And  it  laugh'd  into  beauty  at  that  bright  spelL 

Sunbeam  of  summer  !  oh,  what  is  like  tbee  ? 

Hope  of  the  wilderness,  joy  of  the  sea  ! 

One  thing  is  like  thee  to  mortals  given, 

The  faith  touching  all  things  with  hues  of  heaven  ! 

— Mrs.  Hemans. 


90  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

XIII.— TASSO  AND  HIS  SISTER. 

"  But  still  and  thoughtful  at  her  knee 

Her  children  stood  that  hour, 
Their  bursts  of  song  and  dancing  glee 

Hush'd  as  by  words  of  power. 
With  bright  fix'd  wondering  eyes,  that  gazed 

Up  to  their  mother's  face, 
With  brows  through  parted  ringlets  raised 

They  stood  in  silent  grace." 


— Mrs.  Hemana. 


XIV.— THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

The  breaking  waves  dash'd  high 

On  a  stern  and  rock-bound  coast, 
And  the  woods  against  a  stormy  sky 

Their  giant  branches  toss'd  ; 

And  the  heavy  night  hung  dark 

The  hills  and  waters  o'er, 
When  a  band  of  exiles  moor'd  their  bark 

On  the  wild  New  England  shore. 
*  *  *  *  « 

Amidst  the  storn?  they  sang. 

And  the  stare  fieard  and  the  sea  ; 
And  the  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 

To  the  anthem  of  the  free  !  " 

— Mrs.  Hemaw. 


XV.— THE  HOUR  OF  PRAYER. 

Child,  amidst  the  flowe'rs  at  \>\-AJ, 
While  the  red  light  fades  away  ; 
Mother,  with  thine  earnest  eye 
Ever  following  silently  ; 
Father,  by  the  breeze  of  eve 
Call'd  thy  harvest-work  to  leave — 
Pray  :  ere  yet  the  dark  hours  be, 
Lift  the  heart  and  bend  the  knee  ! 

— Mrs.  Remans. 


APPENDIX.  91 

XVI.— THE  ARMADA. 

****** 

Many  a  light-fishing  bark  put  out  to  pry  along  the  coast, 
And  with  loose  rein  and  bloody  spur  rode  inland  many  a  post, 
With  his  white  hair  unbouneted,  the  stout  old  sheriff  comes  ; 
Behind  him  march  the  halberdiers  ;  before  him  sound  the  drums  ; 
His  yeomen  round  the  market  cross  make  clear  an  ample  space  ; 
For  there  behoves  him  to  set  up  the  standard  of  Her  Grace. 
****** 

The  freshening  breeze  of  eve  unfurled  that  banner's  many  fold  ; 
The  parting  gleam  of  sunshine  kissed  that  haughty  scroll  of  gold  ; 
Night  sank  upon  the  dusky  beach,  and  on  the  purple  sea, 
Such  night  in  England  ne'er  had  been,  nor  e'er  again  shall  be. 

— Lord  Macciulay. 


XVII—  THE  SLAVE'S  DREAM. 

Beside  the  ungathered  rice  he  lay, 

His  sickle  in  his  hand  ; 
His  breast  was  bare,  his  matted  hair 

Was  buried  in  the  ?and. 
Again,  in  the  mist  and  shadow  of  sleep 

He  saw  his  native  land. 

*         *         *         *        * 

And  then  at  furious  speed  he  rodo 

Along  the  Niger's  bank  ; 
His  bridle-reins  were  golden  chains, 

And,  with  a  martial  clank, 
At  each  leap  he  could  feel  his  scabbard  of  steel 

Smiting  his  stallion's  flank. 

***** 

He  did  not  feel  the  driver's  whip  ; 

Nor  the  burning  heat  of  day  ; 
For  death  h  id  illumined  the  land  of  sleep, 

And  his  lifeless  body  lay 
A  worn-out  fetter,  that  the  soul 

Had  broken  and  thrown  away  ! 

— Longfellow. 


92  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

XVIII.— A  PSALM  OF  LIFE. 

Art  is  long,  and  Time  is  fleeting. 

And  our  hearts,  though  stout  and  brave, 
Still,  like  muffled  drums,  are  beating 

Funeral  marches  to  the  grave. 
***** 

Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 

We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 

Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time. 

Footprints,  that  perhaps  another, 

Sailing  o'er  life's  solemn  main, 
A  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  brother 

Seeing,  shall  take  heart  again. 

— Longfellow. 


XIX,— THE  SLAVE  IN  THE  DISMAL  SWAMP. 

In  dark  fens  of  the  dismal  swamp 

The  hunted  negro  lay  ; 
He  saw  the  fire  of  the  midnight  camp, 
And  heard  at  times  a  horse's  tramp, 

And  a  bloodhound's  distant  bay. 


A  poor  old  slave,  infirm  and  lame ; 

Great  scars  deformed  his  face  ; 
On  his  forehead  he  bore  the  brand  of  sh,-.me 
And  the  rags,  that  hid  his  mangled  frame, 

Were  the  livery  of  disgrace. 

*         *         *         *         » 

On  him  alone  was  the  doom  of  pain, 

From  the  morning  of  his  birth  ; 
On  him  alone  the  curse  of  Cain 
F«ll,  like  a  flail  on  the  garnered  grain, 

And  struck  him  to  the  earth. 

— Longfellow. 


APPENDIX.  93 

XX.— LAPSE  OF  TIME. 

The  lapse  of  time  and  rivers  is  the  same, 

Both  speed  their  journey  with  a  restless  stream  ; 

The  silent  pace  with  which  they  steal  away 

No  wealth  can  bribe,  nor  prayers  persuade  to  stay. 

Alike  irrevocable  both  when  past, 

And  a  wide  ocean  swallows  both  at  last ; 

Though  each  resembles  each  in  every  part, 

A  difference  strikes  at  length  the  musing  heart. 

Streams  never  flow  in  vain  ;  where  streams  abound, 

How  laughs  the  land  with  various  plenty  crown'd  ; 

But  Time,  that  should  enrich  the  nobler  mind, 

Neglected,  leaves  a  weary  waste  behind. 

— C&wper. 

XXL— WHAT  IS  TIME? 

I  asked  an  aged  man,  a  man  of  cares, 
Wrinkled,  and  curled,  and  white  with  hoary  hairs 
"  Time  is  the  warp  of  life,"  he  said  ;  "oh  tell 
The  young,  the  fair,  the  gay  to  weave  it  well." 
I  asked  the  ancient,  venerable  dead, 
Sages  who  wrote,  and  warriors  who  bled  ; 
From  the  cold  grave,  a  hollow  murmur  flowed, 
"  Time  sowed  the  seed  we  reap  in  this  abode." 

— Rev.  J.  Marsden. 


PUNCTUATION. 

EXERCISES  ON  THE  COMMA,  SEMICOLON,  AND  COLON. 


TRUE   END   OF    KNOWLEDGE. 

"  The  greatest  error  is  the  mistaking  of  the  true  end  of  knowledge  for 
oen  have  entered  into  a  desire  of  learning  and  knowledge  sometimes  to 
entertain  their  minds  with  variety  and  delight  sometimes  for  ornament 
and  reputation  sometimes  to  enable  them  to  victory  of  wit  and  r-,ntra- 
diction  and  most  times  for  lucre  aiid  profession  but  seldom  sincerely  to 


94  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

give  a  true  account  of  their  gift  of  reason  to  the  benefit  and  use  of  men 
as  if  there  were  sought  in  knowledge  a  couch  whereupon  to  rest  a 
searching  and  restless  spirit  or  a  terrace  for  a  wandering  and  variable 
mind  to  walk  up  and  down  with  a  fair  prospect  or  a  tower  of  state  for  a 
proud  mind  to  raise  itself  upon  or  a  fort  or  commanding  ground  for 
strife  or  contention  or  a  shop  for  profit  or  sale  and  not  a  rich  storehouse 
for  the  glory  of  the  Creator  and  the  relief  of  man's  estate." — Lord 
Bacon. 


LABOUR,   ITS   BLESSED   RESULTS. 

"  Bread  wine  and  cloth  are  things  of  daily  use  and  great  plenty  yet 
notwithstanding  acorns  water  and  leaves  or  skins  must  be  our  bread 
drink  and  clothing  did  not  labour  furnish  us  with  these  more  useful 
commodities  for  whatever  bread  is  more  worth  than  acorns  wine  than 
water  and  cloth  and  silk  than  leaves  skins  or  moss  that  is  solely  owing 
to  labour  and  industry  the  one  of  these  being  the  food  and  raiment 
which  unassisted  nature  furnishes  us  with  the  other  provisions  which 
our  industry  and  pains  prepare  for  "«  which  how  much  they  exceed  the 
other  in  value  when  any  one  hath  computed  he  will  then  see  how  much 
labour  makes  the  far  greater  part  of  the  value  of  things  we  enjoy  in  this 
world. " — Locke. 


LIFE   AND   ITS   END. 

"  Remember  for  what  purpose  you  were  born  and  through  the  whole 
of  life  look  at  its  end  and  consider  when  that  time  comes  in  what  will 
you  put  your  trust  not  in  the  bubble  of  worldly  vanity  it  will  be  broken 
not  in  worldly  pleasures  they  will  be  gone  not  in  great  connections  they 
cannot  serve  you  not  in  we.dth  you  cannot  carry  it  with  you  not  in  rank 
in  the  grave  there  is  no  distinction  not  in  the  recollection  of  a  life 
spent  in  a  giddy  conformity  to  the  silly  fashions  of  a  thoughtless  and 
wicked  world  but  in  that  of  a  life  spent  soberly  righteously  and  godly 
in  this  present  world." — Bishop  Watson. 


MEN. 

"  Crafty  men  contemn  studies  simple  men  admire  them  and  wise  men 
ose  them  for  they  teach  not  their  own  use  that  is  a  wisdom  without 
them  and  won  by  observation  read  not  to  contradict  nor  to  believe  but 
to  weigh  and  con>ider  some  books  are  to  be  tasted  others  swallowed  and 
some  few  to  be  chewed  and  digested  reading  maketh  a  full  man  con- 


APPENDIX  95 

f erence  a  ready  man  and  writing  an  exact  man  and  therefore  if  a  man 
write  little  he  had  need  have  a  great  memory  if  he  confer  little  have  a 
present  wit  and  if  he  read  little  hive  much  cunning  to  seein  to  know 
that  he  doth  not  histories  make  men  wise  poets  witty  the  mathematics 
subtle  natural  philosophy  deep  morals  grave  logic  and  rhetoric  able  to 
contend." — Bacon. 


TIME. 

"  I  asked  a  dying  sinner  ere  the  tide 
Of  life  had  left  his  veins  Time  he  replied 

I've  lost  it  Ah  the  treasure  and  he  died 
*****# 

I  asked  a  spirit  lost  but  oh  the  shriek 
That  pierced  my  soul  I  shudder  while  I  speak 
It  cried  a  particle  a  speck  a  mite 
Of  endless  years  duration  infinite. 

I  asked  the  mighty  angel  who  shall  stand 
One  foot  on  sea  and  one  on  solid  land 
By  heavens  he  cried  I  swear  the  mystery's  o'er 
Time  was  he  cried  but  Time  shall- be  no  more." 

— Rev.  J.  Manden. 


TIME. 

Time  is  like  a  fashionable  host 

That  slightly  shakes  his  parting  guest  by  the  hand 

And  with  his  arm  outstretch'd  as  he  would  fly 

Grasps  in  the  comer  welcome  ever  smiles 

And  farewell  goes  out  sighing  Let  not  virtue  seek 

Remuneration  for  a  thing  it  was  for  beauty  wit 

High  birth  vigour  of  bone  desert  in  service 

Love  friendship  charity  are  subjects  all 

To  envious  and  calumniating  Time.  — Shakespeare. 


EXCELLENCE. 


One  of  the  great  secrets  of  advancing  in  life  is  to  be  ready  to  take 
advantage  of  those  opportunities  which  if  a  man  really  possesses  superior 
abilities  are  sure  to  present  themselves  some  time  or  other.  As  the 


96  ENGLISH  COMPOSITION. 

poet  expresses  it  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men  an  ebbing  and 
flowing  of  the  unstable  element  on  which  they  are  borne  and  if  this  be 
only  taken  at  the  flood  the  full  sea  is  gained  on  which  the  voyage  of 
their  life  may  bo  made  with  ease  and  the  prospect  of  a  happy  issue. — 
Theodore, 


WAR. 

Many  delight  in  war  not  in  its  carnage  and  woes  but  for  its  valour 
and  apparent  magnanimity  for  the  self-command  of  the  hero  the  forti- 
tude which  despises  suffering  the  resolution  which  courts  danger  the 
superiority  of  the  mind  to  the  body  to  sensation  to  fear  why  that 
garland  woven  that  arch  erected  that  festive  board  spread  these  are 
tributes  to  the  warrior. — Channing. 


THE   POOR  :   THEIR  .OPPRESSION. 

O  what  avails  it  missionary  to  come  to  me  a  man  condemned  to 
residence  in  this  foetid  place  where  every  sense  bestowed  ori  me  for  my 
delight  becomes  a  torment  and  where  every  minute  of  my  numbered 
days  is  new  mire  ad  led  to  the  heap  under  which  I  lie  oppressed  but 
give  me  my  first  glimpse  of  Heaven  through  a  little  of  its  light  and  air 
give  me  pure  water  he'p  me  to  be  clean  lighten  this  heavy  atmosphere 
and  heavy  life  in  which  our  spirits  sink  and  we  become  the  indifferent 
and  callous  creatures  you  too  often  see  us  gently  and  kindly  take  the 
bodies  of  those  who  die  among  us  out  of  the  small  room  where  we 
grow  to  be  so  familiar  with  the  awful  change  that  even  its  sanctity  is 
lost  to  us  and  teacher  then  I  will  hear  none  know  better  than  you 
how  willingly  of  Him  whose  thoughts  were  so  much  with  the  poor 
and  who  had  compassion  for  all  human  sorrow. — Dickens. 


DIRECTIONS  TO  STUDENTS  IN  REVISING  THEIR 
COMPOSITIONS. 

1.  No  abbreviations  are  allowed  in  prose,  and  numbers  (except  in 
dates)  should  be  expressed  in  words,  not  in  figures. 

2.  Numerals  must  not  be  used,  excepting  where  speed  is  necessary. 

3.  The  letters  of  the  same  syllable  must  be  written  in  the  same  line. 

4.  Crotchets  or  brackets  which   enclose   a   parenthesis    should   be 
used  as  sparingly  as  possible.     Their  place  may  often  bo  supplied  by  a 
zomma  or  a  dash. 


APPENDIX.  97 

SUBJECTS   FOE   ESSAYS. 


I. — THE  USE  OP  ALCOHOL. 
The  opponents  of  alcoholic  liquors  maintain — 

1.  That  alcohol  is  a  poison. 

2.  That  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  is  admitted  by  the  State  to 
be  dangerous  and  hurtful  to  society. 

3.  That  the  tendency  of  alcohol  is  to  beget  an  appetite  for  itself ;  to 
weaken  the  power  of  restraint. 

4.  That  no  one  can  define  moderation. 

5.  That  indulgence  produces  callousness  of  conscience. 

6.  That  alcohol  is  not  a  food,  and  that  health  and  strength  are  not 
oronioted  by  its  use. 

7.  That,  taken  in  what  is  held  to  be  moderation,  it  injures  health 
and  shortens  life,  as  shown  by  the  statistics  of  the  United  Kingdom 
Temperance  and  Provident  Institution. 

8.  That,  nationally,  it  wastes  the  alimentary  products  of  the  earth 
by  causing  destruction  and  theft  of  property,  by  weakening  the  power 
and  desire  of  productive  labour,  by  entailing  loss  on  commercial  and 
mercantile  undertakings,   by  eating    up   savings    and  capital,  and    by 
creating  three-quarters  of  the  national   poverty  and  criminality,  and 
much  of  the  disease,  all  of  which  become  a  necessary  and  oppressive 
burden  upon  society. 

9.  That  the  only  cure  for  national  drunkenness  is  national  abstinence. 

10.  That  total  abstinence  is  in  accordance  with  the  general  principles 
of  Christianity,  and  the  moral  maxims  of  the  New  Testament. 

11.  That  experience  corroborates  the  testimony  of  physiology  as  to  the 
uselessness  and  injuriousness  of  alcohol,  and  that  the  principle  of  total 
abstinence  is  adopted  by  wrestlers,  runners,  and  others  who  engage  in 
competitions  requiring  steady  nerve  aud  great  muscular  power;  that 
hard  manual  labour  is  better  performed  on  total  abstinence  principles. 

12.  That  alcohol  acts  more  rapidly  upon  the  brain  than  upon  any 
other  organ  ;  hence  it  has  been  called  the  brain  poison. 

On  the  o^her  hand,  it  is  contended — 

1.  That  alcohol  is  a  good  creature  of  God. 

2.  That  it  is  the  abuse,  aud  not  the  use,  which  should  be  condemned. 

G 


98  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

3.  That  our  Lord  turned  water   into   wine,  and  sanctioned  wine 
drinking. 

4.  That  the  evils  of  excessive  drinking  are  exaggerated. 

5.  That  doctors  differ  in  opinion. 

6.  That  alcohol  is  fuel  to  the  body. 

7.  That  it  aids  digestion. 

8.  That  some  intoxicant  has  been  used  in  all  ages  and  by  all  nations. 

9.  That  we  live  in  such  an  artificial  state  of  society  as  to  require  a 
stimulant 

10.  That  total  abstinence  may  be  gcod  for  some,  but  not  for  all. 

11.  That  it  is  an  ascetic  principle. 

12.  That  the  temperate  many  should  not  suffer  for  the  intemperate 
few. 


II. — THE  USB  OF  TOBACCO. 
It  is  contended,  on  the  one  hand — 

1.  That  tobacco  is  classed  as  a  narcotico-acrid  poison  in  all  works  on 
poisons. 

2.  Tb\t,  therefore,  it  injures  all  who  indulge  in  it,  according  to  the 
amount  consumed  and  the  strength  of  the  consumer. 

3.  That  physicians  of  the  highest  eminence  declare  its  use  to  be 
injnri'ius  to  health  and   life,  causing  organic    disease,  and   especially 
contributing  to  heart  disease,  cancer,  and  consumption. 

4.  That  the  "soothing  effect"    of  tobacco   is   nothing  more  than 
narcotising,  or  deadening  the  nerves  of  sensation,  and  that  the  proper 
remedy  for  weariness  is  not  narcotism,  but  rest,  change  of  occupation, 
or  sleep. 

5-  That,  by  opposing  the  nutrition  of  nerve  and  muscle,  it  prevents 
the  growth  and  development  of  the  body,  and  that  the  opinion  of  Dr. 
Richardson,  F.R.S.,  that  smoking  is  injurious  to  health  and  activity  at 
all  ages  of  life,  is  borne  out  by  the  practice  of  men  who  excel  in  steadi- 
ness of  nerve  and  in  staying  power — Hanlan,  the  champion  sculler  of 
the  world  ;  Dr.  Carver,  the  world-famous  rifle  shot ;  Grace,  the  cricketer ; 
and  Weston,  the  pedestrian. 

6.  That  the  fact  that  the  nerves  tolerate  the  use  of  tobacco  does  not 
prove  it  harmless,  but  that  nature  has  a  wonderful  power  of  adapting 
herself  to  bad  conditions. 


APPENDIX.  99 

7.  That  the  money  spent  on  tobacco,  amounting  to  £16,000,000  per 
annum,  is  wasted ;  and  that  the   effect  of  tobacco  on  'British  trade  is 
"  a  tremendous  temptation  to  men  to  trade  falsely,1'  because  they  find 
it  easy  to  make  millions  of  their  fellow-creatures  to  pay  six  shillings  for 
sixpence  worth  of  stuff,  and  because  "  that  which  ^oes   in  any  way  to 
make  the  masses  poor  can  never  fail  to  make  the   trade  of  a  country 
poor  also." 

8.  That  the  habit  is   inconsistent  in  a   Christian,  especially  in  a 
Christian  minister,  who  is  commanded  to  "  abstain  from  all  appearance 
of  evil,"  and  from  "fleshy  lusts,  which  war  against  the  soul ;"  vbat  the 
Bible  condemns  self-indulgence,   and  commends  self-denial ;  and  that 
the  disciples  of  Christ  are  commanded,  "  Deny  thyself,  and  take  up  thy 
cross  and  follow  me." 

9.  That  by  drying  the  throat,  by  expectorating,  and  by  depressing 
the  nerves,  it  induces  thirst  and  leads  to  drinking. 

10.  That  smoking  tends  to  enslave  the  will,  and  that  almost  all  con- 
firmed smokers  wish  they  had  never  acquired  the  practice. 

11.  That  it  is  dangerous,  causing  many  serious  fires  and  disastrous 
explosions. 

12.  That  smokers  set  a  bad  example,  especially  to  the  young. 

13.  That  smoking  is  an  unmanly  leaning  on  a  solace  to  care  and 
labour  neither  sought  nor  needed  by  women. 

14.  That  it  tends  to  take  the  ambition  out  of  a  man,  and  to  make 
him  contented  where  his  divinest  duty  is  discontent. 

15.  That  it  is  almost  impossible  to  smoke  in  an  inhabited  country 
without  causing  discomfort  to  others. 

16.  That  it  blunts  the  moral  sense,  creates  selfishness,  causing  the 
smoker,  however  well-bred,  to  ignore  the  rights  of  non-smokers  to  pure 
air  and  freedom  from  the  stale  and  the  unwelcome  fumes  of  tobacco  smoke. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  affirmed — 

1.  That  tobacco  is  a  good  creature  of  God. 

2.  That  it  is  poisonous  only  when  taken  in  excess. 

3.  That  it  does  rne  no  harm. 

4.  That  doctors  order  it 

5.  That  it  aids  digestion. 

6.  That  doctors  differ  in  opinion  as  to  the  effects  of  tobacco. 

7.  That  smoking  prevents  infection. 


100  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

8.  That  it  soothes  pain  and  discomfort. 

9.  That  nearly  all  nations  use  it. 

10.  That  it  causes  functional  disease  only. 

11.  That  as  many  old  men  and  women  smoke,  tobacco  cannot  shorten 
life. 

1 2.  That  smoking  is  a  harmless  substitute  for  drinking. 

13.  That  there  is  no  command  against  it  in  the  Bible. 

1 4.  That  ministers  smoke. 

15.  That  all  great  thinkers,  poets,  and  novelists  smoke. 

16.  That  tobacco  produces  a;i  immense  Government  revenue. 


III. — Is  A  VEGETABLE  DIET  BEST  FOR  MAN? 

Vegetarianism  is  based  on  the  principle  that  man,  as  a 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  being,  becomes  most  com- 
pletely developed  in  all  his  faculties  when  subsisting  upou 
the  direct  productions  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 

The  reasons  for  entertaining  this  principle  are  various  with 
different  persons,  but  are  principally  based — 

1.  On  the  Appointment  of  man's  food  at  the  Creation. — Genesis,  i.,  29. 

2.  On  the  Anatomical  Structure  of  Man,  as  described  by  Linnaeus, 
Cuvier,  and  other  eminent  naturalists,  who  express  their  conviction  that 
man  was  designed  to  live  on  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 

3.  On  Physiology,  winch  shows  that  the  purest  blood,  and  the  most 
Substantial  muscle,  sinew,  and  bone,  are  produced  upon  this  diet. 

4.  On  Chemistry,  as  taught  by  Liebig,  and  other  eminent  chemists, 
who  affirm  that  all  nutriment  is  derived  from  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
where  it  is  found  of  the  purest  kind,  and  ill  the  most  suitable  pro- 
portions. 

5.  On  Economy,  which  is  every  way  promoted  by  a  system  which 
provides  more  sustenance  for  Id.,  from  farinaceous  food,  than  for  Is. 
fro  n  the  flesh  of  animals. 

6.  On  Agriculture,  which  shows  the  vastly  greater  amount  of  food 
obtained   from   vegetable   produce,  compared   with  that    from  animal 
produce,  from  the  same  extent  of  land. 


APPENDIX.  101 

7.  On  Psychology,  which  proves  that  in  proportion  as  this  principle  i* 
adhered  to  the  passions  are  kept  in  subjection  to  the  moral  principle. 

8.  On  ^Esthetics,  which  seek  to  cherish  all  that  is  sublime  and  beauti- 
ful in  human  nature,  to  dispense  with  the  slaughterhouse,  and  to  liberate 
from  a  degrading  occupation  the  butcher,  the  grazier,  and  the  cook. 

9.  On  History,  which  shows  that  this  principle  was  a  rule  of  life  at 
the  happiest — the  primeval — period   of  human  existence  ;    and  that 
wherever  it  has  been  adopted  it  has  proved  itself  to  be  beneficial  to  the 
human  race. 

10.  On   Humanity,   which    laments  the  unnecessary  slaughter    of 
animals  for  food,  and  which  regards  ''peace  on  earth"  as  impossible, 
and  "goodwill  among  men"  as  indefinitely  remote,  while  cruelty,  even 
to  "  animals,"  is  tolerated  and  generally  prevalent. 

11.  On  the  Experience  and  Testimony  of  great  and  good  men,  in 
ancient,  modern,  and  present  times. 

12.  On  the  Individual  Consciousness  of  its   truth,  which  becomes 
more  and  more  powerful  in  proportion  as  the  principle  is  cdhered  to 
in  practice. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  held — 

1.  That  farming,  apart  from  the  rearing  and  fattening  of  cattle, 
would  not  pay. 

2.  That  a  Vegetarian  diet  fails  to  keep  up  the  strength  necessary  foi 
doing  hard  work. 

3.  That  persons  who  have  adopted  the  system  have  broken  down  in 
health,  and  even  died. 

4.  That  a  Vegetal  ian  diet  would  not  suit  my  constitution. 

5.  That  we  have  canine  teeth,  which  are  designed  to  eat  flesh. 

6.  That  if  flesh-food  be  discarded,  an  adequate  supply  of  manure  for 
the  land  could  not  be  obtained. 

7.  That  proper  material  for  clothing  could  not  be  obtained,  if  flesh- 
eating  were  given  up. 

8.  That  animals  could  not  be  kept  within  bounds,  if  they  were  not 
killed  for  fooJ. 

9.  That  animals  were  made  to  be  eaten. 

10.  That  we  could  not  obtain  leather,  &c.,  if  we  did  not  kill. 

11.  That  Vegetarian  races  are  not  conquering  races. 

12.  That  Vegetarians  could  not  live  at  the  North  Pole; 


102  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

IV. — OUGHT  CAPITAL  PUNISHMENT  TO  BE  ABOLISHED? 

It  is  contended,  on  the  one  hand — 

1.  That  innocent  persons  have  been  sacrificed. 

2.  That  Christ  catne  "not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them/' 

3.  That   wherever  the  capital   penalty  has    been  substituted   by  a 
severe  secondary  punishment,  enforced  with  comparative  certainty,  and 
under  common-sense  conditions,  murders  have  not  increased. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  contended — 

1.  That  it  is  a  deterrent  and  a  counteractive  of  murder. 

2.  That  the  Old  Testament  permitted  Capital  Punishment. 

3.  That  the  interests  of  social  order  require  it. 


V. — PEACE  v.  WAR. 
It  is  contended,  on  the  one  hand — 

1.  That  War  is  inconsistent  with  the  command  "Love  your  neigh- 
bour as  yourself,"  and  that  "  Love  your  enemies  "  involves  the  enemies 
of  our  country. 

2.  That  the  individual  has  no  right  to  authorise  society  to  do  any- 
thing contrary  to  the  law  of  God  ;  that  men  c  mnected  in  societies  are 
under  the  same  moral  law  as  individuals. 

3.  That  all  wars  are  contrary  to  the  will  of  God,  and  that  the  indi- 
vidual has  no  right  to  commit  to  society,  nor  society  to  commit  to 
Government,  the  power  to  declare  war. 

4.  That  international  arbitration  affords  a  rational  and  pacific  mode 
of  settling  future  disputes. 

5.  That  magnanimity  and  the  return  of  good  for  evil  is  better  calcu- 
lated to  preserve  a  wholesome  influence  over  neighbouring  semi-civilised 
people. 

6.  That  the  doctrine  of  preparation  for  war,  to  secure   peace,  ia 
unsound  in  principle,  and  at  variance  with  experience. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  contended  — 

1.  That  self-defence  is  a  natural  instinct  and  a  natural  right. 


APPENDIX.  103 

2.  That  peace  doctri  .es  are  right  for  the  Christian  in  his  individual 
capacity,  but  wrong  when  he  desires  to  carry  them  out  as  a  citizen 
of  the  State. 

3.  That  Abraham's  example  should  be  followed,  not  Christ's. 

4.  That  extreme  peace  views  will  produce  disastrous  results. 

5.  That  it  is  safest  to  be  forearmed. 
Q.  That  war  is  a  national  puri6er. 


VI. — VACCINATION. 
It  is  contended,  on  the  one  hand-  — 

1.  That  Compulsory  Vaccination   is  an  unwarrantable  interference 
with  the  rights  of  parents. 

2.  That  illness  and  death  by  smallpox  have  increased  aince  vaccination 
was  made  compulsory. 

3.  That  defective  drainage,  overcrowding,  badly  constructed  dwellings, 
ill-ventilation,  unwholesome  food,  and  deficient  water  supply,  are  the 
exc.ting  causes  of  small-pox  epidemics. 

4.  That  Vaccination  poisons  the  blood. 

5.  That  in  view  of  the  difference  of  opinion  which  prevails  among 
medical  men,  it  is  unwise,  impolitic,  unjust,  and  tyrannical  to  enforce 
Vaccination. 

6.  That   Compulsory  Vaccination   retards  all  improvement  iu   the 
treatment  and  all  discoveries  for  the  prevention  of  small-pox ;    that, 
therefore,  it  ought  to  be  repealed. 

7.  That  to  attack  .1  healthy  child  under  pretence  of  public  health,  is 
a  tyrannical  usurpation  which  no  medical  theory  can  defend. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  contended — 

1.  That  before  the  introduction   of  Vaccination,   small -pox  killed 
40,000  yearly  in  England. 

2.  That  thorough  Vaccination  in  infancy  is  an  "  almost  complete  " 
protection  against  small-pox. 

".  That  one  out  of  every  three  of  un vaccinated  people  die  by  small-pox. 
4.  That  of  perfectly   vaccinated  people  only  one  dies  of  every  two 
hundred  attacked  by  smal'-pox. 


104  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 


QUESTIONS 

Designed  to  aid  the  student  in  self-examination,  and  as 
suggestive  to  the  teacher  of  other  questions  to  be  used 
in  class : — 

1.  Can  we  say  that  a  knowledge  of  grammar  is  necessary  in  order 
to  write  correctly  when  perKona  who  have  never  studied  grammar  write 
and  speak  correctly  ? 

2.  How  did  Kossuth  obtain  his  wide  command  of  English  ? 

3.  Why  should  English  be  studied  more  than  any  other  language  ? 

4.  Some  hold  that  the  authority  of  our  great  writers,  Macaulay, 
Ruskin,  and  others,   is,  in  grammar,  paramount  and  supreme  ;    that 
what  they  do  we  must   follow,   because  it  is  their  practice.      What 
answer  would  you  give  ? 

5.  What  was  Gibbon's  method  of  obtaining  information  ? 

6.  What   was   the    secret   of    Macaulay's    accuracy   of    statement  ? 
Sir  Walter  Scott's? 

7.  Name  some  great  works  which  have  cost  their  authors  many 
years  of  labour. 

8.  What  is  the  best  method  of  composing  ? 

9.  How  can  a  copious  vocabulary  be  obtained  ? 

10.  How  can  excellence  be  acquired  ? 

11.  Students  are  often  urged  not  to  write  until  their  thoughts  are 
matured.     What  answer  does  Dr.  Johnson  give  to  this  advice  ? 

12.  What  is  genius? 

13.  Name  some  authors  who  have  toiled  at  their  compositions. 

1 4.  What  is  the  severest  of  all  tests  of  writing  ? 

15.  Why  did  Macaulay  bastow  BO  much  pains  upon  his  writing? 

1 6.  What  is  meant  by  style  ? 

17.  What  was  Buckle's  method  of  studying  style  ? 

18.  What  was  Binney's  ? 

19.  How  did  Sir  James  Mackintosh  divide  the  history  of  style  ? 

20.  What  are  the  characteristics  of  the  present  period  ? 

21.  "A  man's  style  is  a  transcript  of  his  own  character."     Illustrate 
this  statement. 


APPENDIX.  105 

22.  Give  instances  of  the  universality  of  Carlyle's  influence. 

23.  Distinguish  between  Carlyle's  style  and  Macaulay's. 

24.  What  is  the  secret  of  Macaulay's  popularity  ? 

25.  Name  a  good  novelist  for  the  study  of  style. 

26.  What  are  the  faults  of  Johnson's  style  ? 

27.  What  did  Macaulay  hold  the  first  rule  of  writing  ? 

28.  What  was  Roger  Ascham's  advice  as  to  writing  ? 

2.9.  What  book  did  Macaulay  commend  to  students  for  study 

30.  Who  is  the  great  English  classic  ? 

31.  Why  does  Professor  Blackie  warn  students  against  anxiety  about 
mere  style  ? 

32.  Show  the  necessity  of  a  clear  style 

33.  When  should  words  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin  be  used  ?  When  Latin  ? 

34.  Why  did  Robert  Hall  prefer  "  happiness  "  to  "  felicity  "  ? 

35.  Whom  did  Southey  consider  one  of  the  best  writers  having  a 
Saxon  basis  ? 

36.  What  are  the  characteristics  of  a  good  style  ? 

37.  What  quality  is  of  the  first  importance  ? 

38.  What  is  the  opposite  of  perspicuity  ? 

39.  What  does  clearness  imply  ? 

40.  Why  should  simple  words  be  used  ? 

41.  Distinguish  between  special  and  general  terms. 

42.  Give  illustrations  of  each. 

43.  What  is  fine  writing  ? 

44.  What  newspaper  uses  an  inflated  style  ? 

45.  Give  an  illustration  of  vague  language. 

46.  What  does  brevity  mean  ? 

47.  How  is  brevity  violated  ? 

48.  Give  examples  of  circumlocution. 

49.  How  can  skill  in  condensation  be  gained  ? 

60.  When  would  circumlocution  be  permissible  ? 

61.  How  is  purity  of  language  regulated  ? 

52.  What  are  we  to  avoid  iu  order  to  write  with  parity  ? 

53.  When  are  technical  terms  valuable  ? 

54.  When  may  foreign  words  be  used  ? 

55.  When  may  new  words  be  coined  ? 

56.  What  is  energy  of  style  opposed  to 

57.  What  does  it  imply  ? 

53.  How  may  it  be  produc  d  ? 


106  ENGLISH   COMPOSITION. 

69.  When  dc*s  a  become  an  ? 
60.  Where  should  adverbs  be  placed  ? 

64.  When  should  the  comparative  form  of  the  adjective  be  used,  and 
when  the  superlative  ? 

62.  Where  should  the  relative  pronoun  be  placed  ? 

63.  Give  an  example  of  the  correct  use  of  with  and  from. 

64.  What  is  punctuation  ? 

V5.  Why  should  a  writer  for  the  press  punctuate  his  own  composi- 
tion ? 

66.  How  may  ambiguity  be  avoided  in  the  construction  of  sentences. 

67.  What  are  the  principal  marks  of  punctuation  ? 

68.  State  when  they  should  be  used,  and  give  illustrations. 

69.  What  is  meant  by  paraphrasing  ? 

70.  What  is  its  educational  value  ? 

71.  What  are  the  rules  for  paraphrasing  f 

72.  How  would  you  begin  to  write  an  essay  ? 

73.  -What  should  be  given  in  writing  a  biographical  essay? 

74.  Why  should  we  take  part  in  controversial  questions  ? 

75.  How  should  we  treat  our  opponents  in  debate? 


PUBLICATIONS   OF  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &•  CO. 


TWO 

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FOR  THE  LIBRARY,  SCHOOL,  AND  FAMILY. 
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GAZETTEER  OF  THE  WORLD. 

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LIPPIICOTT'S  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY, 

Lippincott's  Pronouncing  Dictionary  of  Biography 
and   Mythology 

Contains  Memoirs  of  the  Eminent  Persons  of  all  Ages  and  Countries,  and  Accounts  oT 

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II. 


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SPECIAL   CHARACTERISTICS. 

I.  These  works  are  a  philosophical  exposition  of  that  part  of  edu- 
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